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R246  .G82  History  of  medicine 


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SAMUEL  A.GREEM 


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HISTORY   OF  MEDICINE 
IN    MASSACHUSETTS. 


BY    THE    SAME    AUTHOR. 

A.  Williams  &  Co.  Avill  send  by  post,  on  receipt  of  the 
price,  any  of  the  following  publications  : — 

An  Historical  Address,  Bicentennial  and  Centennial, 
delivered  July  4,  1876,  at  Groton,  Massachusetts.  Octavo,  paper 
cover.    86  pages.    Price  $1.00. 

An  Historical  Address  delivered  at  Groton,  Massachusetts, 
February  20,  1880.  at  the  dedication  of  three  monuments  erected 
by  the  town.    Octavo,  paper  cover.    56  pages.    Price  50  cents. 

Count  William  de  Deux-ponts's  Campaigns  in  America, 
1780-1781.  Translated  from  the  French  Manuscript,  with  an  Intro- 
duction acd  Notes.    Octavo,  paper  cover.    Pp.  xvi.  176.    Price  $2. 

Epitaphs  from  the  old  Burying  Ground  in  Groton, 
Massachusetts.  With  Notes  and  an  Appendix.  Illustrations. 
Octavo,  cloth.    Pp.  xix.  271.     Price  $3.00. 

The  Early  Records  of  Groton,  Massachusetts,  16621707. 
Witli  Notes.    Octavo,  cloth.    201  pages.    Price  $2.00. 


^Cstovi*  of  JHttricCne  in  JUafiiiStitljusttts. 


Centennial  Address 


DELIVERED  BEFOllK 


THE  MASSACHUSETTS  MEDICAL  SOCIETY 

AT    CAMBRIDGE, 

JUNE  7,  1881. 


SAMUEL   ABBOTT    GREEN,  M.D. 


BOSTON : 

A.    WILLIAMS    AND    COMPANY. 

Old    Cornkr    Bookstore. 

188L 


V--(H^ 


Press  of  David  Clcqyp  &  Son, 

5fii  Wiisliington  Street. 


TO 

5rt)e  liJlnnotfi  of 

DOCTOR  JOSHUA  GREEN, 

OF  GROTON, 
WHO  WAS,  DURING  HALF  A  CENTURY,  A  MEMBER  OF  TUE 

AND  FOR  MANY  YEAKS  ONE  OF  ITS  COUNCILLORS, 

THIS    ADDRESS    IS    INSCRIBED,    WITH    FILIAL    PIETY, 

BY  HIS  SON. 


A  small  edition  of  this  Address  was  printed  before  its  delivery, 
for  the  convenience  of  the  writer ;  though  in  its  present  form 
some  changes  have  since  been  made.  It  was  delivered  in  the 
Sanders  Theatre,  when  parts  of  it  were  necessarily  omitted  on 
account  of  its  length. 


CENTENNIAL    ADDRESS. 


I. 

The  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  is 
about  to  enter  upon  the  second  century  of  its  ex- 
istence. Following  the  custom  of  this  centennial 
period,  it  proposes  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of 
its  origin  by  the  story  of  its  hfe.  It  was  born  in 
troublous  times  ;  and  its  founders  were  still  en- 
gaged more  or  less  actively  in  a  political  struggle 
which  even  to-day,  by  reflex  action,  is  exerting 
a  powerful  influence  on  the  events  of  the  world. 
It  was  during  the  War  for  Independence  that  the 
physicians  and  surgeons  of  this  Commonwealth 
were  led  to  feel  the  need  of  some  association  in 
order  to  encourage  i3rofessional  studies.  A  new 
field  was  then  opened  for  medical  investigations, 
and  the  workers  were  eager  to  cultivate  it.  At  no 
previous  time  had  so  many  medical  men  of  the 
State  been  brought  into  close  relations  with  one 
another,  or  in  contact  with  their  brethren  from 
other  States  ;  and  this  intercourse  necessarily 
stimulated  inquiry  and  discussion,  and  j)roduced 
a  community  of  professional  feeling,  such  as  had 
never  before  existed.  In  union  there  is  strength  ; 
this  was  true  in  war,  and  it  was  true  in  peace. 


6  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

They  saw  that  better  results  were  accomplished 
by  concerted  action  than  by  individual  effort;  and 
they  were  then  ready  to  associate  themselves  to- 
gether for  the  purpose  of  improving  the  practice 
and  raising  the  standard  of  its  study.  It  is  a  sin- 
gular fact  in  the  social  economy  of  affairs,  that 
some  of  the  oldest  and  most  learned  scientific  as- 
sociations, both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe, 
have  been  formed  during  the  clash  of  arms  and 
the  din  of  war  ;  and  this  Society  is  no  exception. 
IN^othing  happens  in  this  world  by  chance,  though 
oftentimes  it  may  be  difficult  to  discover  the  law 
which  underlies  a  principle. 

The  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  was  incor- 
porated on  November  1,  1781,  and  its  charter  was 
signed  by  Samuel  Adams,  as  president  of  the  Sen- 
ate, and  by  John  Hancock,  as  governor  of  the 
Commonwealth.  These  patriotic  names  suggest 
Revolutionary  times.  It  will  be  noted  that  the 
centennial  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  the  Society 
does  not  occur  for  some  months  to  come ;  but  it  is 
fair  to  assume  that  the  preliminary  steps  for  its  or- 
ganization cover  this  interval.  In  the  presence  of 
this  audience  it  need  not  be  said  that  a  period  of  ges- 
tation always  precedes  a  birth ;  and  without  attempt- 
ing to  fix  the  limit  of  this  period  I  shall  assume 
that  it  is  now  a  century  since  the  conception  of 
the  Society  took  place  in  the  brains  of  its  founders. 

There  had  been  before  this  time  a  medical  soci- 
ety in  Boston,  which  was  the  first  one  formed  in 
America.  It  appears  to  have  been  in  existence  as 
early  as  the  year  17B5,  though  it  did  not  continue 


CEXTEXNIAL   ADDRESS.  7 

long.  Its  records  are  irretrieval)ly  lost,  and  all 
that  is  known  about  it  is  gathered  from  fragment- 
ary sources.  It  is  very  likely  that  it  included  in 
its  list  of  members  some  of  the  ministers,  as  they 
were  interested  in  the  study  and  practice  of  medi- 
cine. Dr.  AVilliam  Douglass,  a  noted  author  and 
physician  of  that  day,  writes,  under  date  of  Feb- 
ruary 18, 1735-36,  to  Cadwallader  Golden,  of  New 
York,  that 

.  .  .  We  have  lately  in  Boston  formed  a  medical  society,  of 
which,  tliis  gentleman  [Dr.  Clark,  the  bearer  of  the  letter],  a 
member  thereof,  can  give  you  a  particular  account.  We  design 
from  time  to  time  to  publish  some  short  pieces;  there  is  now 
ready  for  the  press  number  one,  with  this  title-jjage : — 

Number  One, 
MEDICAL    MEMOIRS 

CONTAINING 

1.  A  miscellany.     Practical  introduction. 

2.  A  history  of  the  dysentery  epidemical  in  Boston  in  1734. 

3.  Some  account  of  a  gutta-serena  in  a  young  woman. 

4.  The  anatomical  inspection  of  a  spina  veutosa  in  the  vertebrce 

of  the  loins  in  a  young  man. 

5.  Some  practical  comments  or  remarks  on  the,  writings  of  Dr. 

Thomas  Sydenham. 
Published  by  a  Medical- Society  in  Boston,  New-England. 

This  letter  is  now  among  the  Golden  PajDers,  in 
the  possession  of  the  jSTcav  York  Historical  Soci- 
ety ;  a  copy  of  it  is  printed  in  the  second  volume, 
fourth  series,  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Gol- 
lections  (pages  188,  189) . 

Gutta  Serena,  Englished  mto  drop  serene,  was 
the  cause  of  Milton's  blindness.  The  poet  alludes 
to  himself,  when  he  says : — 

"  Eyes  that  roll  in  vain 
To  find  thy  piercing  ray,  and  find  no  dawn  ; 
So  thick  a  drop  serene  hath  quenched  their  orbs." 


8  OENTENTTIAL   ADDRESS. 

The  disease  was  afterwards  known  as  amaurosis. 
Spina  ventosa  is  an  affection  of  the  osseous  sys- 
tem,— according  to  old  notions, — in  which  the 
texture  of  the  bone  dilates,  seemingly  distended 
with  air. 

The  first  number  of  these  "  Medical  Memoirs  " 
was  never  printed.  It  was  probably  Dr.  John 
Clark,  at  that  time  an  eminent  practitioner  of  med- 
icine, who  is  referred  to  in  the  letter,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Society.  He  was  born  on  December 
15,  1698,  and  was  then  at  the  height  of  his  pro- 
fessional zeal,  when  he  would  naturally  be  inter- 
ested in  a  scientific  association.  He  belonged  to 
a  family  of  medical  antecedents  and  traditions, 
being  himself  of  the  fourth  generation  in  a  direct 
line  of  John  Clarks,  all  physicians,  and  he  was  fol- 
lowed by  three  more,  equally  direct,  of  John 
Clarks,  these  three  also  physicians, — covering  a 
period  of  more  than  a  century  and  a  half  and  in- 
cluding seven  generations  of  the  same  name. 

During  the  year  1736,  Dr.  Douglass  published 
a  pamphlet  entitled  "The  Practical  HISTOKY 
of  a  ]^ew  Epidemical  Eruptive  Miliary  Fever,  with 
an  Angina  Ulcusculosa  which  prevailed  in  Boston 
]^ew  England  in  the  years  1735  and  1736."  It  is 
inscribed,  "  To  a  Medical  Society  in  Boston^^  and 
the  preface  begins  : — 

"Gentlemen,  This  Piece  of  Medical  History  does  naturally 
address  it  self  to  you,  considering  that  I  have  the  pleasure  of 
being  one  of  your  numt)er,  tJiat  you  have  been  fellow  labourers 
in  the  management  of  this  distemper,  and  therefore  competent 
judges  of  this  performance,  and  that  where  difficult  or  extraor- 
dinary Gases  have  occurred,  in  any  of  your  private  practice,  I 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  9 

loas  favoured  to  visit  the  Patients  in  order  to  make  a  minute 
Clinical  enquiry :  in  short,  vxithout  your  assis'ance  this  piece 
would  have  been  less  perfect,  and  not  so  loell  vouched^ 

In  "  The  Boston  Weekly  IS'ews-Letter,"  Janua- 
ry 5,  1737,  there  is  a  long  communication,  ad- 
dressed "To  the  Judicious  and  Learned  Presi- 
dent and  Members  of  the  Medical  Society  in 
Boston,^''  and  signed  '^'^  Philanthroposy  It  takes 
strong-  ground  in  favor  of  regulating  the  practice 
of  physic  throughout  the  province,  and  advocates 
the  plan  of  having  all  practitioners  examined  by 
a  board  of  physicians  and  surgeons  appointed  by 
the  General  Court.  The  Avriter  is  justly  severe 
on  the  "  Slwemahers,  Weavers  and  Almanach- 
malcers,  with  their  virtuous  Consorts,  who  have 
laid  aside  the  proper  Business  of  their  Lives,  to 
turn  Quacks." 

In  the  same  newspaper  of  J^ovcmber  13,  1741, 
is  an  interesting  report  of  a  surgical  operation  per- 
formed about  that  time  for  urinary  calculus,  on 
Joseph  Baker,  a  boy  six  years  old.  It  was  done 
"  in  Presence  of  the  Medical  Society,"  by  Dr. 
Sylvester  Gardiner,  and  "  according  to  Mr.  Chesel- 
derCs  late  Improvement  of  the  lateral  Way."  The 
report  begins: — 

"  A  Medical  Society  in  Boston  New-England,  with  no  quack- 
ish  Vieio,  as  is  the  vianner  of  some  ;  but  for  the  Comfort  and 
Benefit  of  the  unhappy  and  miserable  Sufferers  by  the  excru- 
ciating Pain,  occasioned  by  a  Stone  in  the  Bladder,  do  Publish 
the  folloioing  Case." 

Dr.  Gardiner,  the  operator  in  this  case,  was  a 
rising  young  surgeon  who  had  studied  his  profes- 
sion in  London  and  Paris.     He  began  the  prac- 


10  CENTENTNnAL    ADDRESS. 

tice  of  medicine  in  Boston,  where  he  also  lectured 
on  anatomy,  which  he  ilhistrated  by  preparations 
brought  from  Europe.  His  enterprise  led  him  to 
estabiish  an  apothecary's  shop,  in  which  he  car- 
ried on  an  extensive  wholesale  and  retail  business. 
His  career  as  a  physician  and  surgeon  was  attend- 
ed with  remarkable  success,  and  he  soon  acquired 
from  his  profession  both  fame  and  fortune.  His 
prosperity,  however,  was  interrupted  by  the  poli- 
tical troubles  which  preceded  the  Revolution,  and 
during  the  struggle  he  took  sides  with  the  mother 
country.  He  thus  became  odious  to  the  ]3atriots  ; 
and  when  Boston  was  evacuated  by  the  British 
troops,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  his  native  coun- 
try and  pass  eight  or  ten  years  in  exile.  He  finally 
returned  and  died  at  I^ewport,  Rhode  Island, 
August  8,  1786,  in  the  80th  year  of  his  age. 

Although  the  Medical  Society  in  Boston  was 
short-lived,  no  account  of  the  history  of  medicine 
in  the  State  would  be  complete  which  did  not 
mention  its  existence.  In  its  day  it  exerted  a 
good  influence  on  the  profession,  and  showed  a 
zeal  on  the  part  of  the  physicians  which  is  alike 
honorable  to  their  heads  and  creditable  to  their 
hearts.  The  origin  of  the  Society  may  have  had 
some  connection  with  the  epidemic  of  diphtheria 
which  broke  out  in  Boston  during  the  summer  of 
1735;  at  any  rate,  it  was  organized  about  that 
time.  It  is  known  to  have  been  in  existence  late 
in  the  autumn  of  1711,  though  ten  years  afterward 
there  was  no  trace  of  it.  Dr.  Lloyd,  who  began 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  Boston  about  the  year 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  11 

1752,  and  continued  in  it  for  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury, had  no  recollection  of  such  an  association. 
This  last  fact  is  mentioned  by  Dr.  Bartlett,  in  his 
address  before  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society, 
June  G,  1810,  and  shows  that  it  had  disappeared 
before  Dr.  Lloyd's  time.  The  founders  of  this 
local  society,  the  pioneer  association  of  its  kind 
in  the  country,  represented  the  active  medical 
thought  in  Boston ;  and  though  they  are  unknown 
to  us  even  by  name,  deserve  on  this  occasion  a 
tribute  which  is  freely  given. 

A  long  generation  passes,  and  the  Massachu- 
setts Medical  Society  takes  the  field,  and  occupies 
the  broad  limits  of  the  State,  including  the  dis- 
trict of  Maine.  Many  of  the  original  members 
had  served  in  the  army,  and  were  familiar  with 
the  capital  operations  of  the  hospital  and  the  bat- 
tle-field, w^hile  others  had  filled  important  public 
positions  of  a  civil  character.  In  any  presence 
they  would  have  been  considered  accomplished 
physicians  and  sin*geons,  and  they  were  the  peers 
of  other  professional  men.  Together  with  the 
clergy  they  represented  the  education  and  I'efine- 
ment  of  the  community.  But  before  entering 
npon  the  history  of  this  venerable  corporation,  I 
may  be  allowed  to  go  back  and  give  a  sketch  of 
the  rise  and  progress  of  medicine  in  Massachu- 
setts during  the  colonial  and  provincial  periods. 

AVhen  the.  Pil^'rims  landed  at  Plvmouth  in  the 
winter  of  1620,  they  found  that  a  few  years  before 
their  arrival  a  deadly  pestilence  had  raged  all  along 
the  ^ew  England  seaboard,  and  that  the  natives 


12  CENTENlSriAL   ADDRESS. 

had  been  more  than  decimated  by  the  epidemic. 
Cotton  Mather  says : — 

"  The  Indians  in  these  Parts  had  newly,  even  about  a  Year  or 
Two  before,  been  visited  with  such  a  prodigious  Pestilence;  as 
carried  away  not  a  Tenth,  but  Nine  Parts  of  Ten  (yea,  'tis  said 
Nineteen  of  Twenty)  among  them:  So  that  the  Woods  were 
almost  cleared  of  those  pernicious  Creatures  to  make  Room  for  a 
better  Growth."  * 

The  diagnosis  of  this  disease  has  been  much 
discussed.  By  some  writers  it  has  been  called  the 
plague  ;  but  this  is  a  vague  term  and  means  nei- 
ther one  thing  nor  another.  Johnson  calls  it 
"  a  sore  Consumption,  sweeping  away  whole  Fam- 
ilies." ^  Gookin,  who  wrote  many  years  later,  and 
who  had  talked  with  those  who  remembered  the 
cases,  says  that  "  the  bodies  all  over  were  exceed- 
ing yellow,  describing  it  by  a  yellow  garment  they 
showed  me,  both  before  they  died,  and  after- 
wards."^ According  to  Winslow,^  the  same  dis- 
ease prevailed  among  the  Indians  as  late  as  JSTo- 
vember  in  the  year  1622,  which  fact  seems  to 
eliminate  yellow-fever.  This  would  seem  to  leave 
small-pox  as  the  disease  in  question,  of  which 
the  description  is  in  some  respects  good.  Dur- 
ing many  years,  there  had  been  some  slight  inter- 
course between  the  Indians  and  stray  Europeans 
who  came  to  the  coast  on  fishing  voyages,  and  it 
is  more  than  probable  that  the  loathsome  disease 
was  thus    introduced.     Within  the  period  of  re- 


*  M;if^nalia,  Book  i.,  Chap.  ii.  7. 

2  "\\''oncler- Working   Providence  of    Sions    Savioiu-,    in   New  England, 
Chap.  viii.  IG. 

^  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  i.  148. 

*  Good  Newes  fi-oni  New-England,  page  18. 


CENTEX:jfI^VL   ADDRESS.  13 

corded  histoiy,  it  is  knowii  that  whole  villages  of 
the  natives  have  been  swept  away  by  this  sickness. 
The  Indians  had  no  knowledge  of  medicine,  bnt 
were  accustomed  to  treat  disease  largely  by  in- 
cantations and  powAVOws.  There  is,  however,  a 
popular  belief  to-day  that  the  Indian  doctor  is 
skilled  in  botanical  remedies,  as  he  is  wont  to  use 
the  infusions  and  decoctions  of  various  roots  and 
herbs.  "While  there  is  no  ground  for  such  an  im- 
pression, he  will  yet  be  consulted  as  long  as  the 
race  of  simpletons  continues  to  exist — perhaps  till 
the  millennium.  The  ravages  of  small-pox  among 
the  ignorant  natives  were  fearful,  as  they  had  no 
knowledge  of  inoculation  or  vaccination  ;  and 
thus  a  new  danger  opposed  the  white  settlers,  who 
were  already  overburdened  by  their  cares  and 
trials. 

During  the  first  winter  at  Plymouth,  the  colo- 
nists lost  half  their  number  by  disease,  and  of  the 
other  half  most  of  them  were  sick,  and  so  weak 
that  they  could  not  take  proper  care  of  themselves 
or  of  each  other.  Scarcely  twelve  men  were  left 
alive  in  the  settlement,  and  only  about  three  times 
as  many  women  and  children  to  share  in  their 
misery.  Fifty  persons,  all  told,  included  the  whole 
population  of  Plymouth  in  the  spring  of  1621. 
They  suffered  fearfully  from  scurvy,  and  this  was 
largely  the  cause  of  the  great  mortality  which 
befell  them.  Says  "Wood,  in  his  "  j^ew  Englands 
Prospect : " — 

..."  whereas  many  died  at  the  beginning  of  the  plantations,  it 
■was  not  because  the  Country  was  unhealthfull,  but  because  their 

3 


14  CEXTEKN^IAL   ADDRESS. 

bodies  were  corrupted  with  sea-diet,  which  was  naught,  the  Beefe 
and  Pork  being  tainted,  their  Butter  and  Cheese  corrupted,  their 
P^ish  rotten,  and  voyage  long  by  reason  of  crosse  "Winds,  so  that 
winter  approaching  before  they  could  get  warme  houses,  and  the 
searching  sharpnes  of  that  purer  Climate,  creeping  in  at  the  cran- 
nies of  their  crazed  bodies,  caused  death  and  sicknesse  "  (page  4). 

The  colonists  had  left  comfortable  homes  and 
settled  in  a  distant  wilderness  during  the  incle- 
ment season  of  winter.  With  none  of  the  cus- 
tomary conveniences  of  life,  they  had  almost 
everythmg  to  exert  a  depressing  influence.  The 
sensitive  ones  must  have  yearned  for  their  native 
land;  and  it  is  not  strange  that  the  scorbutic  taint, 
with  the  intercurrent  and  superadded  nostalgia, 
proved  so  fatal.  Homesickness  is  always  a  strong 
element  in  weakening  the  power  to  resist  disease. 
Among  the  passengers  who  came  over  in  the 
"  Mayflower ''  was  Deacon  Samuel  Fuller,  who 
survived  the  sickly  season.  He  was  the  first  ph}^- 
sician  in  the  colony,  and  was  for  some  time  the 
sole  physician  ;  and  often  he  must  have  been  trou- 
bled to  devise  means  for  the  care  of  his  patients. 
His  practice  was  extensive,  taking  him  to  Salem, 
Boston,  and  other  towns  in  the  neighboring  colo- 
ny. During  the  first  ten  years  of  its  existence, 
the  Plymouth  settlement  had  reached  a  population 
of  only  two  hundred  and  fifty  persons,  and  some 
of  these  lived  in  places  remote  from  the  town. 
Besides  his  practice  Deacon  Fuller — I  am  sure  he 
would  have  preferred  his  church  title  to  any  pro- 
fessional one — eked  out  a  livelihood  by  tilling 
the  soil,  after  the  manner  of  his  neighbors.  He 
died  in  the  year  1633,  and  by  his  death  the  settle- 


CENTENNIAL   ADDKESS.  15 

ment    lost   one    of    its   most   valued    and   useful 
inhabitants. 

In  the  early  days  of  New  England,  it  was  not 
customary  to  address  or  speak  of  a  physician  by 
the  title  of  doctor.  Perhaps  one  reason  for  this 
was  that  there  were  so  very  few  persons  who  had 
ever  taken  a  medical  diploma.  The  custom  of 
giving  the  title  has  literally  grown  up  by  degrees. 
The  earliest  instance  of  its  use  that  I  have  found, 
is  in  the  Koxbury  Church  Records, — recently  pub- 
lished as  "  A  Keport  of  the  Record  Commission- 
ers "  (Boston,  1881),  —  where  an  entry  is  made 
under  the  date  of  November  5, 1668,  which  alludes 
to  "Doctor  Emery,"  of  Salem.— (Page  207.) 

A  surgeon  was  formerly  called  a  "chirurgeon," 
which  word  by  use  has  been  worn  down  to  its 
present  form.  It  means  literally  one  w^ho  performs 
the  manual  part  of  medicine,  and  originally  refer- 
red to  the  external  treatment  of  disease.  It  is 
well  derived,  and  was  the  name  always  applied  in 
colonial  times  to  one  whom  we  call  a  surgeon.  In 
England,  even  at  the  present  time,  a  surgeon  is 
not  addressed  as  Doctor  ;  but  he  always  has  the 
title  of  Mister  (^.  e.  Mr.)   given  to  him. 

Governor  Edward  Winslow  was  skilled  in  the 
practice  of  medicine,  and  even  among  the  Indians 
had  a  wide  reputation  for  his  treatment  of  disease. 
He  was  once  summoned  to  visit  Massasoit,  a  pro- 
minent chief,  who  was  seriously  sick,  but  who 
recovered  under  his  care.  As  a  mark  of  his  grat- 
itude, the  faithful  sachem  revealed  to  the  English 
a  plot  that  was  forming  against  them,  but  which 


16  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

was  averted  by  the  timely  information.  A  full  re- 
port of  the  case  with  the  treatment  is  fomid  in 
Winslow's  "  Good  Kewes  from  Kew-England." — 
(London,  1624,)  pages  25-32. 

Plymouth  colony,  owing  to  its  small  and  sparse 
population,  had  only  a  few  physicians.  At  the 
time  of  its  union  with  Massachusetts  under  the 
second  charter,  it  contained  but  9,000  inhabitants, 
and  it  can  easily  be  inferred  that  its  influence  on 
the  general  practice  of  medicine  was  of  little  ac- 
count. The  founders  of  Massachusetts  were  men 
of  more  education  and  larger  means  than  those 
who  settled  Plymouth,  and  in  the  natural  course 
of  events  it  is  not  strange  that  they  should  have 
politically  absorbed  the  older  colony.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  founders  of  Plymouth  were  men 
of  deep  religious  thought  and  convictions,  and 
they  set  in  motion  a  system  of  ecclesiastical  polity 
which  has  since  overrun  Massachusetts  ;  and  to- 
day the  church  government  prevailing  in  this  State 
is  more  closely  allied  to  that  which  existed  in  Ply- 
mouth than  to  any  other  form.  I  make  this  di- 
gression in  order  to  show  that  it  is  not  always 
numbers  that  count.  In  the  plan  of  creation  the 
fittest  will  survive. 

Before  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  was 
fairly  launched  in  England,  the  question  of  a  med- 
ical man  to  accompany  the  jDlanters  Avas  discussed 
by  the  Company.  At  one  of  its  earliest  meetings, 
held  March  5,  1628,  it  is  recorded  that  : — 

A  Proposicon  beeinge  made  to  Intertayne  a  Burgeon  for  [the] 
plautacun    M""  Pratt   was    ppouuded   as    an   abell    man   vp[on] 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  17 

theis  Condicons  Nameley  That  40"*  should  bee  allowed  him  viz' 
for  his  Chist  2.?  the  Rest  [for]  his  owne  sallery  for  the  first  yeere 
puided  yt  he  [continue]  3  yeeres  the  Comp.  to  bee  at  Charge  of 
transporting  his  wiffe  &  a  ch[ild]  haue  20'  a  yeere  for  the  other 
2  yeeres  *fc  to  build  him  a  ho  [use  at]  the  Comp  Chardge  &  to 
allott  him  100  acr'.  of  ground  but  if  he  stay  but  one  yeere  then 
the  comp  to  bee  at  Chardge  of  his  bringing  back  for  England  & 
he  to  Leaue  his  s'^u[ant]  and  the  Chist  for  the  Comp  seruice." 

Agreed  w"'  Robert  3Iorley  s^iant  to  M'  Andrewe  IMathewes 
late  barber  surgeon  to  s^ie  the  Comp.  in  Newe  England  for  three 
y[ears]  the  first  yeere  to  haue  20  nobles  the  second  yeere  [30  ? 
and  the  third]  yeere  20  markes,  to  serue  as  a  barber  &  a  surgeon 
[on  all]  occasyons  belonging  to  his  Calling  to  aney  of  this  [Com- 
pany] that  are  planters  or  there  seruauts,  and  for  his  [chest 
and]  all  in  it  whereof  he  hath  geeueu  an  Inuentory  .  .  .  sight  of 
it  It  bee  approoued  ffyve  pounds  Is  .  .  .  and  payd  to  him  ffor 
it  &  the  same  to  bee  fo[rthwith  payd.] — (General  Court  Rec- 
ords, i.  3».) 

Mr.  Pratt's  given  name  was  John;  and  after 
coming  to  Xew  England  he  lived  at  Cambridge. 
The  last  entry  in  these  records  reminds  us  of  the 
time  when  barbers  were  doctors  by  brevet,  as  it 
were,  and  performed  many  operations  of  minor 
surgery,  such  as  pulling  teeth,  bleeding,  and  cup- 
ping. A  noble  was  worth  about  6s.  8d.;  and  a 
mark  was  double  the  value  of  a  noble. 

For  many  years  before  the  Puritans  came  to 
this  country,  they  were  subjected  to  bitter  perse- 
cution ;  and  foreseeing  the  possibility  of  an  eject- 
ment, a  considerable  number  of  their  ministers 
studied  medicine.  They  saw  the  probable  needs 
of  the  future,  and  fitted  themselves,  as  best  they 
could,  for  any  emergenc}-  that  might  arise  in  a 
new  settlement;  hence  they  formed  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  early  physicians  of  Massachusetts. 
History  repeats  herself,  and  we  see  to-day  Ameri- 
can missionaries  who  first  study  medicine  as  a  par- 


18  CENTEISnNnAL   ADDRESS. 

t 

tial  preparation  for  their  new  duties.  In  fact  it  is 
a  custom  as  old  as  civilization  itself,  that  the 
priests  are  the  ones  to  collect  and  preserve  the 
traditions  of  medicine.  These  Puritan  ministers 
were  men  of  liberal  education,  and  some  of  them 
authors  of  the  earliest  medical  treatises  printed  in 
America.  It  was  with  them  a  matter  of  conscien- 
tious duty  to  heal  the  body  as  well  as  to  save  the 
soul.  Each  one  practised  in  his  own  flock,  and 
for  his  fee  generally  received  that  which  is  con- 
sidered better  than  money,  though  not  equally 
current  at  the  counter.  Occasionally  they  took 
part  in  the  medical  controversies  of  the  day,  and 
defended  their  views  with  much  skill  and  ability. 
Cotton  Mather  speaks  of  this  union  of  the  two 
professions  as  an  "Angelic  Conjunction,"  and 
says  that  "  ever  since  the  days  of  Luke  the  Evan- 
gelist, Skill  in  Physiclc  has  been  frequently  pro- 
fessed and  practised,  by  Persons  whose  more  de- 
clared Business  was  the  Study  of  Divinity."^ 

At  the  period  when  Massachusetts  was  settled, 
medicine  was  an  art  rather  than  a  science,  and  just 
ready  to  take  a  new  departure  under  the  guidance 
of  Sydenham.  Certain  facts  about  disease  were 
learned  by  rote,  as  it  were,  and  the  treatment  was 
nearly  the  same  in  all  cases  without  regard  to  the 
minute  symptoms.  The  public  believed  in  speci- 
fics; and  remedies  were  prescribed,  as  if  they  were 
infallible  or  sovereign.     Says  Shakespeare: 

"  The  sovereign' St  thing  on  earth 
AVas  parmaceti  for  an  inward  bruise." 

"•  Maguulia,  Book  iii.,  Chap.  xxvi.  151. 


CEXTEXNIAL   ADDRESS.  19 

AlDout  this  time  there  were  in  Europe  two 
schools  of  medical  practice,  of  which  the  one  was 
ill  the  habit  of  prescribing  vegetable  substances 
alone,  and  the  other  for  the  most  part  mineral  pre- 
parations. The  first  of  these  schools  was  denom- 
inated the  Galenists,  as  they  were  supposed  to 
follow  the  teachings  of  Galen  ;  and  they  might  be 
termed  the  botanic  doctors  of  that  day.  The  other 
school  adopted  the  doctrines  of  Paracelsus,  and 
gave  "chemical "  medicines,  which  included  mineral 
substances  and  a  few  of  the  most  active  vegetable 
compounds.  The  supporters  of  the  second  school 
were  sometimes  called  chemists.  There  was  of 
course  a  bitter  rivalry  between  the  two  sects;  and, 
if  everything  that  was  said  about  the  one  by  the 
other  was  true,  the  poor  patients  had  to  suifer. 
It  is  very  likely  that  the  prejudice  existing  to-day 
aa'ainst  mineral  medicines  dates  back  to  this 
hostility. 

The  following  advertisement  appears  in  "  The 
Boston  Gazette,"  June  19,  1714,  and  alludes  to 
the  medicines  of  the  two  schools.  The  advertiser, 
Mr.  Gardiner,  who  has  been  mentioned  before  in 
these  pages,  was  not  only  the  most  noted  drug- 
gist in  ]Srew  England,  but  also  an  accomplished 
physician  and  surgeon: — 

"  Just  imported  in  the  Ship  from  London,  And  to  be  Sold  by 
Mr.  Sylvester  Gardiner,  At  the  Sign  of  the  Unicorn  and  Mortar 
in  jNIarl borough-Street. 

All  Sorts  of  Drugs  and  Medicines,  both  Chymical  and  C4aleni- 
cal ;  where  all  Doctors,  Apothecaries  or  others,  may  be  supply'd 
with  the  very  best  and  freshest  of  Either  at  the  lowest  Price  ; 
and  Captains  of  Ships  with  Doctor's  Boxes  put  up  in  the  neatest 
and  best  Manner;  with  printed  Directions:    Likewise  all  Mer- 


20  centen:n^ial  address. 

chants  may  be  furnished  at  the  same  Place  with  Surgeons  Chests 
put  up  in  the  same  INIanner,  and  at  the  same  Price,  as  they  are 
for  the  Royal  Navy,  at  the  Apothecary's  Hall  in  London ;  where 
only  are  to  be  Sold  by  Appointment  of  the  Patentees,  the  true 
Doctor  Bateman's  Pectoral." 

The  early  physicians  of  ISlew  England,  how- 
ever, do  not  seem  to  have  entered  into  this  medi- 
cal controversy,  but  gave  such  remedies  as  they 
saw  fit,  without  regard  to  either  school,  though 
they  followed  a  routine  practice.  The  relation 
of  cause  and  effect  was  slighted  by  them,  and  an 
air  of  mystery  and  superstition  pervaded  the  whole 
domain  of  therapeutics.  The  literature  of  the 
profession  was  scanty,  and  for  that  reason  easily 
mastered.  They  had  no  knowledge  of  pathology, 
and  but  little  of  anatomy.  It  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten that  there  were  but  very  few  regular  gradu- 
ates of  medicine  in  the  country  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years  after  its  settlement.  From  the  year 
1667  to  1730,  a  period  of  sixty- three  years, — ac- 
cording to  Judd,  in  his  History  of  Hadley,  Massa- 
chusetts,— there  was  neither  physician  nor  sur- 
geon in  ]!!^orthampton,  a  large  and  rich  town  ; 
though  at  one  time  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was 
made  to  obtain  a  bone-setter. — (Page  616.)  In 
such  places  there  was  always  some  good  house- 
wife who  acted  as  nurse  on  important  occasions, 
and  she  generally  performed  well  the  part  of  a 
doctor.  Only  to  this  audience  I  will  whisper, 
what  must  not  be  repeated  abroad,  that  there  was 
as  little  sickness  and  as  much  longevity  in  North- 
ampton as  in  other  towns  that  were  favored  by 
physicians.     Every  household  had  its  simple  do- 


A 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  21 

mcstic  rcmcdioR  for  common  com])laints,  and  few 
were  the  faniilie.s  that  did  not  possess  some  old 
book  containing  manuscript  receipts  for  ordinary 
ailments. 

The  remedies  used  by  the  early  practitioners  of 
'New  England  were  largely  made  up  of  simples, 
as  they  were  called,  in  contradistinction  to  com- 
pounds, and  consisted  principally  of  herbs  dear  to 
old  women,  though  none  the  less  valuable  on  that 
account.  Occasionally  they  strike  us  as  absurd? 
and  sometimes  excite  feelings  akin  to  disgust.  An 
electuary  of  millepedes  looks  learned,  and  sounds 
as  if  it  might  be  sweet  j  but  looks  are  nothing  and 
sound  is  empty,  when  we  consider  that  lyiillepedes 
is  the  scientific  name  for  sowbugs,  so  common  in 
the  country,  under  damp,  soggy  planks.  Excre- 
tions and  secretions  were  employed  as  curative 
agents,  and  had  their  particular  parts  to  play  in 
the  treatment  of  disease.  These  remedies  were 
23rescribed  at  times  by  the  best  physicians  two 
hundred  years  ago.  In  England,  during  this  period, 
the  practice  of  medicine  was  equally  crude.  When 
Charles  II.  was  on  his  death-bed,  according  to 
Macaulay,  he  was  bled  largely,  and  a  loathsome 
volatile  salt,  extracted  from  human  skulls,  was 
forced  into  his  mouth. 

In  "  The  Boston  Gazette,  or,  Weekly  Adver- 
tiser," December  18,  1753,  is  a  long  communica- 
tion, covering  two  pages  of  the  newspaper,  setting 
forth  "  Examples  of  Qreat  Medicines  drawn  from 
unpi'omising  Bodies.''^  It  is  made  up  of  extracts 
from  a  work  published  at  Oxford,  England,  in  the 


22  CENTEN]!^IAL   ADDRESS. 

year  1664.  The  article  is  printed  with  the  follow- 
ing sub-headings  :  "  Medicines  out  of  8oot  ;  " 
"  The  Use  of  Hoi^se-dtmg ;  "  "  Medical  Virtues  of 
Human  Urine ; "  "  Medicines  out  of  Humane 
Blood  ;  "  and  "  The  Great  Effects  of  Sow  Bug^s." 
Under  the  second  sub-heading  the  writer  goes  on 
to  show  that  "  there  are  not  any  Medicines  to  be 
taken  into  the  Body  more  cheap  and  contemptible 
than  the  Excrements  of  Men  and  Horses,  and  than 
Insects  ;  and  yet  that  even  these  want  not  consid- 
erable Medical  Yirtues."  He  furthermore  asserts 
that  "  the  juice  of  Horse-dung,  especially  of  Stone- 
horses,^^ — i.  e.  stallions, — is  good  for  the  stoppage 
of  urine,  and  certain  other  complaints. 

The  early  physicians  used  to  place  much  reli- 
ance on  the  powers  of  nature  to  expel  the  materies 
morhi  from  the  system,  particularly  by  way  of  the 
kidneys  j  and  a  glass  vessel  to  hold  the  urine  was 
considered  a  necessary  article  in  the  sick-room. 
A  very  superficial  examination  of  the  fluid  was 
made,  by  holding  it  up  between  the  light  and  the 
observer,  in  order  to  see  its  color,  and  whether  it 
was  clear  or  turbid;  and  from  the  condition  of  the 
water  the  conclusions  were  drawn. 

The  following  signs  of  urine  are  taken  from  a 

book,  by  W.  Mather,  and  published  probably  at 

London  in  the  year  1684.     It  is  a  volume  of  466 

pages,  but  the  title-page  is  missing : — 

"  1.  Red  Urine  signifieth  heat  of  the  Blood. 
"  2.  White,  rawness  and  indigestion  in  the  Stomach. 
"  3.  Thick,  like  puddle,  excessive  labour  or  sickness. 
"  4.  White  or  red  gravel  in  the  bottom  threatens  the  Stone  in 
the  Reins. 

"  5.  Black  or  green,  commonly  death." 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  23 

Dr.  George  Emeiy,  a  Salem  physician  of  unsa- 
vory reputation,  in  Kovember,  1G57,  was  fined 
forty  shillings 

"  for  changing  a  bottle  of  water  of  Goody  Laskin,  &  respitted 
untill  next  Court  &  to  be  remitted  if  he  sliall  acknowledge  he  did 
euill  in  it.  or  not  well  iu  soe  doing  &  ffees  Court  30 V — (Essex 
County  Records,  Salem  Court.) 

John  Josselyn,  an  Englishman,  came  to  this 
country  in  the  summer  of  1663,  and  afterward 
wrote  a  book,  which  was  entitled  ^^New  Englands 
EARITIES  Discovered  :  m  Birds,  Beasts,  Fishes, 
Serpents,  and  Plants  of  that  Country.  Together 
with  the  The  Physical  and  Ghyrurgical  Reme- 
dies wherewith  the  Natims  constantly  use  to  Cure 
their  Distempers,  Wolt]st)S,  and  Sores."  It  was 
pubHshed  at  London  in  the  year  1672,  and  con- 
tains a  large  number  of  homely  remedies  to  be 
found  in  the  fau7ia  and.  flora  of  the  country.  The 
foUowins;  morsels  of  medical  wisdom  are  taken 
from  diflerent  parts  of  it  : — 

Picking  the  gums  with  the  bill  of  an  osprey  is  good  for  the 
tooth-ache ;  Bear's  grease  is  good  for  aches  and  cold  swellings ; 
Beaver's  cods  are  much  used  for  wind  in  the  stomach  and  belly, 
particularly  of  pregnant  women;  Moose  horns  are  much  better 
for  physick,  than  the  horns  of  other  deer ;  A  stone  found  in  the 
head  of  the  cod-fish,  when  pulverized,  stops  fluxes  of  blood,  and 
one  found  in  their  bellies  is  a  remedy  for  the  stone  in  the  blad- 
der ;  Scarifying  the  gums  with  a  thorn  from  the  dog-fish's  back 
cures  tooth-ache ;  The  heart  of  a  rattle-snake  is  an  antidote  to  its 
bite  ;  Burning  "  spuuck,  an  excresence  growing  out  of  black 
birch,"  in  two  or  three  places  on  the  thigh  of  a  patient,  helps  sci- 
atica; Watermelon  is  often  given  to  those  sick  of  fevers,  and 
other  hot  diseases,  with  good  success. 

Much  dependence  used  to  be  placed,  as  I  have 
already  said,  on  the  use  of  roots  and  herbs  ;  and 
the  various  kinds  thought  to  possess  healing  prop- 


24  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

erties  Avere  carefully  gathered  during  their  season 
and  preserved  for  future  use.  Many  herbs,  orig- 
inally brought  from  England  for  their  medical 
virtues,  have  since  become  naturalized,  and  are 
now  good  American  plants.  Some  have  multi- 
plied so  rapidly  and  grown  so  plentifully  in  the 
fields  and  by  the  roadside,  that  they  are  consider- 
ed common  weeds.  "Wormwood,  tansy,  chamo- 
mile, yarrow,  dandelion,  burdock,  plantain,  catnip, 
and  mint,  all  are  plants  that  came  here  by  impor- 
tation. Of  course  there  were  indigenous  ones 
which  the  natives  used  medicinally;  and  a  know- 
ledge of  these  they  imparted  to  the  whites.  The 
foreign  plants  made  their  way  into  the  interior,  as 
fast  as  civilization  extended  in  that  direction.  Dr. 
Douglass,  in  "  A  Summary,  historical  and  politi- 
cal, of  the  First  Planting,  Progressive  Improve- 
ments and  Present  State  of  the  British  Settle- 
ments in  JSTorth- America,"  first  published  at  Bos- 
ton,— Yolume  I.  in  the  year  1749,  and  Volume  II. 
in  1751, — says : — 

"  Near  Boston  and  other  great  Towns  some  Field  Plants  which 
accidentally  have  been  imported  from  JEarope,  spread  much,  and 
are  a  great  Nusance  in  Pastures,  ...  at  present  they  have  spread 
Inland  from  Boston,  about  30  Miles."— (ii.  207.) 

Such  was  the  popular  faith  in  botanical  treat- 
ment that  a  family  was  considered  imjorovident, 
which  did  not  have  on  hand  a  goodly  stock  of  dried 
specimens  of  materia  medica.  When  sickness 
invaded  the  household,  the  pages  of  the  receiiDt- 
book — a  sort  of  family  physician — were  carefully 
scanned  in  oi'der  to  find  some  balm  to  relieve  the 
unlucky  sufferer;  and  when  something  was  found 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  25 

to  meet  the  case,  it  was  given  without  rhyme  or 
reason,  to  the  weal  or  woe  of  the  patient!  Most 
of  these  so-called  remedial  agents  were  innocent 
of  positive  good  or  evil,  and  at  the  worst  could 
only  put  oif  for  a  short  time  the  period  of  recovery. 
But  in  some  cases  the  wonder  is  that  the  poor  pa- 
tient got  well  at  all  after  the  polypharmical  treat- 
ment. If  he  was  strong  enough  to  withstand  the 
efiect  of  the  dose,  he  lived  to  bless  the  i-emedy,  in 
the  firm  belief  that  his  restoration  was  due  to 
the  medicine. 

John  "Winthrop,  the  founder  of  Boston  and 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  was  well  versed  in 
medicine,  but  his  public  services  to  the  colony 
were  so  marked  that  his  minor  ministrations 
among  friends  and  neighbors  are  thrown  into  the 
background.  The  venerable  Cotton  says  of  him 
just  before  his  death,  that  he  had  been  a  ^^  Help 
for  our  Bodies  by  Physich,  for  our  Estates  by 
Law:'' 

His  son,  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  for  some  years  an 
inhabitant  of  Massachusetts  and  afterward  Gov- 
ernor of  Connecticut,  Avas  a  noted  physician.  He 
was  one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  London  and  an  accomplished  scholar. 
He  had  a  large  correspondence  Avith  scientific  men, 
from  which  many  interesting  facts  are  gathered 
about  medicine  in  the  early  history  of  the  colony. 
A  third  generation  of  the  family  represented  in 
the  person  of  Wait  Winthrop,  a  son  of  John,  Jr., 

^  Magnalia,  Book  ii.,  Chap.  iv.  lo. 


26  CElSTTENlflAL   ADDRESS. 

was  also  proficient  in  the  profession.  In  Cotton 
Mather's  sermon,  preached  at  his  funeral,  Novem- 
ber 7,  1717,  there  is  an  "  Epitaphimn,"  from  which 
the  following  is  an  extract: — 

MEDICINE  Peritus  ; 

Qui  Arcauis  vere  Aureis,  et  Auro  preciosioribns  potitus ; 
Queeque  et  Hippocratem  et  Helmoatiwm  latueruut, 
Remedia  panacEeasque  Adeptus ; 

Invalidos  omues  ubicunque  sine  pretio  sanitati  restituit; 
Et  peiie  omnein  Naturam  fecit  Medicam. 

In  his  "History  of  JN'ew  England"  (II.  315, 316), 
Governor  Winthrop  mentions  the  first  appearance 
in  Boston  of  a  particular  malady  of  a  constitutional 
character,  which  is  coeval  with  the  history  of  man- 
kind. It  was  brought  from  Spain  by  a  sailor  dur- 
ing the  spring  of  1616,  and  is  called  in  Winthrop's 
account  by  the  name  of  lues  veiierea.  It  was  some 
time  before  its  real  nature  was  "  discovered  by 
such  in  the  town  as  had  skill  in  physic  and  sur- 
gery, but  there  was  not  any  in  the  country  who 
had  been  practised  in  that  cure;"  and  during  the 
interval  sixteen  persons  became  affected.  Fortu- 
nately at  this  period  a  young  surgeon  hapi^ened 
to  arrive,  "  who  had  had  experience  of  the  right 
way  of  the  cure  of  that  disease,"  and,  as  the  record 
goes,  "  He  took  them  in  hand,  and  through  the 
Lord's  blessing  recovered  them  all  Ihlank']  in  a 
short  time."  For  the  reputation  of  the  sailor's 
wife  who  had  just  been  delivered  of  a  child,  I  will 
add  that  the  disease  is  supposed  to  have  been 
spread  by  the  neighbors  who  drew  her  breasts  as 
well  as  suckled  her  baby.     The  magistrates  took 


CEXTENTHAL   ADDRESS.  27 

the  case  under  consideration,  but  came  to  no  sat- 
isfactory conclusion  in  regard  to  it.  It  was 
thought  by  some  "that  the  woman  was  infected 
by  the  mixture  of  so  many  spirits  of  men  and 
women  as  drew  her  breast."  This  is  the  earhest 
recorded  instance  in  the  colony  of  a  form  of  dis- 
ease which  is  familiar  to  physicians  and  common 
in  all  seaport  towns. 

"Winthrop,  in  his  History  (I.  313-316),  gives 
also  another  occurrence  of  medical  interest.  It 
is  an  account  of  a  monstrous  birth,  which  created 
much  excitement  when  it  became  publicly  known. 
It  seems  that  one  Mary  Dyer,  the  wife  of  ^Yilliam 
Dyer,  of  Boston,  was  delivered  of  a  monstrosity, 
October  17,  1637,  and  its  birth  concealed  by  Good- 
wife  Hawkins,  who  officiated  on  the  occasion. 
The  mother  was  a  milliner,  and  had  always  borne 
a  good  reputation.  The  child  was  still-born,  and 
had  been  viewed  by  no  other  person  than  the  mid- 
wife and  Anne  Hutchinson,  the  enthusiast.  Ano- 
ther woman  had  had  a  glimpse  of  the  terati- 
cal  object,  but  was  unable  to  keep  the  secret,  as 
the  other  two  had  done.  In  this  way  the  matter 
leaked  out.  When  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  about 
to  leave  the  colony  some  time  afterward,  she  was 
questioned  in  regard  to  the  affair,  and  then  told 
everything.  She  said  by  way  of  excuse  that  she 
had  been  advised  by  Mr.  Cotton,  the  minister,  to 
take  this  course ;  and  subsequently  Mr.  Cotton 
himself  justified  it  to  the  Governor,  partly  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  an  admonition  from  Heaven  to 
that  particular  family,  and  the  world  at  large  was 


28  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

not  supposed  to  be  concerned  in  the  matter.  The 
midwife's  report  of  the  case  to  Governor  Win- 
throp  was  as  follows: — 

"  It  was  a  woman  child,  still-born,  about  two  months  before  the 
just  time,  having  life  a  few  hours  before;  it  came  hiplings  till  she 
turned  it;  it  was  of  ordinary  bigness;  it  had  a  face,  but  no  head, 
and  the  ears  stood  upon  the  shoulders,  and  were  like  an  ape's;  it 
had  no  forehead,  but  over  the  eyes  four  horns,  hard  and  sharp ; 
two  of  them  were  above  one  inch  long,  the  other  two  shorter ;  the 
eyes  standing  out,  and  the  mouth  also;  the  nose  hooked  upward; 
all  over  the  breast  and  back  full  of  sharp  pricks  and  scales,  like 
a  thornback;  the  navel  and  all  the  belly,  with  the  distinction  of 
the  sex,  were  where  the  back  should  be,  and  the  back  and  hips 
before,  where  the  belly  should  have  been ;  behind,  between  the 
shoulders,  it  had  two  mouths,  and  in  each  of  them  a  piece  of  red 
flesh  sticking  out ;  it  had  arms  and  legs  as  other  children ;  but, 
instead  of  toes,  it  had  on  each  foot  three  claws,  like  a  young 
fowl,  with  sharjj  talons." 

The  stories  were  so  conflicting,  and  the  excite- 
ment ran  so  high  in  the  matter,  that  the  Governor, 
with  the  advice  of  some  of  the  magistrates  and 
elders  of  the  town,  ordered  the  body  to  be  taken 
np,  six  months  after  its  burial,  when  "most  of 
those  things  were  to  be  seen,  as  the  horns  and 
claws,  the  scales,  etc."  It  is  also  recorded  that 
when  the  child  "  died  in  the  mother's  body  (which 
was  about  two  hours  before  the  birth),  the  bed 
whereon  the  mother  lay  did  shake."  This  furnished 
all  the  testimony  needed  at  that  time  to  show  that 
the  whole  affair  was  supernatural. 

Poor  Mary  Dyer  was  subsequently  hanged  on 
Boston  Common,  June  1,  1660,  a  victim  to  the 
persecution  of  the  Quakers. 

It  is  not  a  little  singular  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson 
herself,  a  short  time  afterward,  was  also  the  subject 
of  a  medical  and  clerical  inquiry.    Her  theological 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  29 

heresy  had  taken  a  uterine  form  of  expression,  ac- 
cording to  the  belief  of  those  days,  thougli  now 
it  would  bo  considered  a  case  of  hydatids.  She 
was  then  living  in  Rhode  Island,  and — I  again 
quote  from  Winthroi)'s  History — 

"  After  her  time  was  fulfilled,  that  she  expected  deliverance  of 
a  child,  was  delivered  of  a  monstrous  birth,  which,  being  diverse- 
ly related  in  the  country  (and,  in  the  open  assembly  at  Boston, 
upon  a  lecture  day,  declared  by  Mr.  Cotton  to  be  twenty-seven 
several  luinjis  of  man's  seed,  without  any  alteration,  or  mixture 
of  anything  from  the  woman,  and  thereupon  gathered,  that  it 
might  signify  her  error  in  denying  inherent  righteousness,  but 
that  all  was  Christ  in  us,  and  nothing  of  ours  in  our  faith,  love, 
etc.)  hereupon  the  governour  wrote  to  Mr.  Clarke,  a  physician 
and  a  preacher  to  those  of  the  island,  to  know  the  certainty  there- 
of, who  returned  him  this  answer:  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  six  weeks 
before  her  delivery,  perceived  her  body  to  be  greatly  distempered, 
and  her  spirits  failing,  and  in  that  regard  doubtful  of  life,  she  sent 
to  me,  etc.,  and  not  long  after  (in  immoderato  fluore  uterino)  it 
was  brought  to  light,  and  I  was  called  to  see  it,  where  I  beheld, 
first  unwashed  (and  afterwards  in  warm  water,)  several  lumps, 
every  one  of  them  greatly  confused,  and  if  you  consider  each  of 
them  according  to  the  representation  of  the  whole,  they  were 
altogether  without  form."  .  .  .  .  "  The  small  globes  I  likewise 
opened,  and  perceived  the  matter  of  them  (setting  aside  the  mem- 
brane in  which  it  was  involved,)  to  be  partly  wind  and  partly 
water.  Of  these  several  lumps  there  were  about  twenty-six,  ac- 
cording to  the  relation  of  those,  who  more  narrowly  searched  into 
the  number  of  them.  I  took  notice  of  six  or  seven  of  some  big- 
ness ;  the  rest  were  small ;  but  all  as  I  have  declared,  except  one 
or  two,  which  differed  much  from  the  rest  both  in  matter  and 
form;  and  the  whole  was  like  the  [blank]  of  the  liver,  being 
simular  and  every  where  like  itself.  When  I  had  opened  it,  the 
matter  seemed  to  be  blood  congealed.  The  governour,  not  satis- 
fied with  this  relation,  spake  after  with  the  said  Mr.  Clarke,  who 
thus  cleared  all  the  doubts :  The  lumps  were  twenty-six  or  twen- 
ty-seven, distinct  and  not  joined  together;  there  came  no  secun- 
dine  after  them;  six  of  them  were  as  great  as  liis  fist,  and  one 
as  great  as  two  fists ;  the  rest  each  less  than  other,  and  the  small- 
est about  the  bigness  of  the  top  of  his  thumb.  The  globes  were 
round  things,  included  in  the  lumps,  about  the  bigness  of  a  small 
Indian  bean,  and  like  the  pearl  in  a  man's  eye." — (i.  326-328.) 

These  extracts  will  serve  to  show  some  of  the 
5 


30  CENTEKN^iAL   ADDRESS. 

phases  of  popular  belief  in  regard  to  medicine  as 
well  as  theology,  which  existed  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago.  They  help  us  catch  the  coloring 
of  that  period  J  and  no  picture  of  the  times  is  com- 
plete without  it.  It  would  be  impossible  for  us  to 
reach  the  same  conclusions,  because  we  reason 
from  different  premises.  There  is  a  kind  of  moral 
j)arallax  as  well  as  a  physical  one ;  and  we  should 
bear  in  mind  the  apparent  displacement  of  an  ob- 
ject as  seen  from  different  points  of  time  as  well 
as  of  position.  The  angle  of  metaphysical  vision 
to-day  subtends  a  much  larger  arc  than  it  did 
two  or  three  centuries  ago. 

Among  those  who  came  over  in  Winthrop's 
fleet  was  Richard  Palgrave,  a  physician,  from 
Stepney,  London.  He  settled  in  Gharlestown, 
though  neither  himself  nor  his  wife  was  ever  con- 
nected with  the  church  in  that  town.  Their  eccle- 
siastical relations  were  always  with  Boston,  where 
those  of  their  children  who  were  born  in  this  coun- 
try were  baptized.  He  lived  about  twenty  years, 
after  coming  to  ISTew  England. 

Another  passenger  in  the  same  fleet  was  Wil- 
liam Gager,  one  of  the  deacons  of  the  Gharlestown 
Ghurch,  whom  Governor  Dudley  styles  "  a  right 
godly  man,  skilful  chyrurgeon,"  but  who  unfor- 
tunately died  soon  after  his  arrival. 

Another  among  the  early  settlers  of  Massachu- 
setts who  practised  medicine,  was  Giles  Firmin, 
Jr.,  Avho  came  to  this  country  in  the  year  1632. 
His  father — "  a  godly  man,  an  apothecary  of  Sud- 
bury in  England,"  according  to  Winthrop — arrived 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  31 

here  about  the  same  time;  and  in  some  accounts 
the  two  have  l^cen  confounded  from  the  similarity 
of  their  names.  It  is  very  likely  that  Giles,  senior, 
was  a  medical  practitioner.  The  son  did  not  long 
remain  in  Boston,  but  soon  returned  to  England; 
coming  again,  however,  to  these  shores  a  few 
years  subsequently.  He  had  been  educated  at  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  and  was  learned  in 
medicine.  He  is  the  first  man  known  to  have 
taught  in  'New  England  this  branch  of  science, 
and  he  seems  to  have  left  a  professional  "imprint 
on  the  minds  of  his  students.  He  soon  remov- 
ed to  Ipswich,  where  he  was  widely  known  as  a 
successful  physician.  His  practice  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  a  lucrative  one,  for  he  writes  to 
"Winthrop  some  years  afterward, — "  I  am  strongly 
sett  upon  to  studye  divinitie,  my  studies  else  must 
be  lost:  for  physick  is  but  a  meene  helpe."^  Sub- 
sequently he  carried  this  plan  into  execution,  and 
studied  theology,  after  which  he  returned  to  Eng- 
land, where  he  was  ordained  and  settled  as  a  rec- 
tor. I^evertheless,  he  continued  to  practise  his 
early  profession. 

The  apostle  Eliot,  tiiiiIi^i  under  date  of  Septem- 
ber 24,  1647,  wi'ites  to  Mr.  Shepard,  the  minister 
of  Cambridge,  and  expresses  the  desire  that — 

"  Our  young  Students  in  PhJ^sick  may  be  trained  up  better 
than  yet  they  bee,  who  have  onely  theoreticall  knowledge,  and 
are  forced  to  fall  to  practise  before  ever  they  saw  an  Anatomy 
made,  or  duely  trained  up  in  making  experiments,  for  we  never 
had  but  one  Anatomy  in  the  Countrey,  which  Mr.  Giles  Firman 
(now  in  England)  did  make  and  read  upon  very  well,  but  no 
more  of  that  now."  ^ 


1  Hutchinson's  Collection  of  Original  Papers,  &c.,  page  109. 

2  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  third  series,  iv.  57. 


32  ce:n"Tenxial  address. 

An  anatomy  is  the  old  name  for  a  skeleton,  and 
Mr.  Firmin  may  be  considered,  in  point  of  time, 
the  first  medical  lecturer  in  the  country.  His  in- 
struction must  have  been  crude,  and  comprised 
little  more  than  informal  talks  about  the  dry  bones 
before  him;  but  even  this  might  be  a  great  help  to 
the  learners.  At  any  rate  it  seems  to  have  excit- 
ed an  interest  in  the  subject,  for  the  recommenda- 
tion is  made,  at  the  session  of  the  General  Court 
beginning  October  27,  1647, — a  few  weeks  later 
than  the  date  of  Eliot's  letter, — that  "  we  conceive 
it  very  necessary  y*  such  as  studies  phisick,  or  chi- 
rurgery  may  have  liberty  to  reade  anotomy  &  to 
anotomize  once  in  foure  yeares  some  malefacto'  in 
case  there  be  such  as  the  Courte  shall  alow  of."  ^ 

The  apostle  Eliot  himself  was  skilled  in  medi- 
cine, and  he  tried  to  teach  the  Indians  some  gene- 
ral principles  of  the  study  as  well  as  a  knowledge 
of  the  human  body.  He  was  desirous  that  the}' 
should  be  instructed  in  the  rules  and  precepts  of 
the  art,  so  that  they  might  give  up  their  "pow- 
wows "  and  rely  on  prayer  in  the  treatment  of  the 
sick. 

Charles  Chauncy,  that  stern  puritan.  President 
of  Harvard  College,  and  also  Leonard  Hoar,  who 
succeeded  him  in  the  presidency,  were  regular 
graduates  of  medicine  at  Cambridge  in  England. 
Chauncy  left  six  sons,  all  of  whom  were  educated 
at  Harvard  College  and  became  preachers.  They 
had,  says  Cotton  Mather,  "  an  eminent  Skill  in 
Pliysick  added  unto  theu'  other  Accomplishments ; 

1  General  Coiirt  Records,  ii.  175. 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  33 

which  like  hirn  [their  father],  they  used  for  t]ie 
Good  of  many;  as,  indeed,  it  is  well  known,  that 
until  Two  Hundred  Years  ago,  Physicl'  in  Enfj- 
Zay^Z,  was  no  Profession  distinct  from  Divinity."  ^ 
John  Rogers,  the  fifth  president  of  the  College, 
was  also  a  practitioner  of  medicine.  Hoar  was 
the  first  president  who  was  a  graduate  of  the  in- 
stitution, hut  Rogers  was  the  earliest  graduate 
who  became  its  president. 

Michael  Wigglesworth  was  an  early  minister 
and  physician  of  considerable  note  in  the  colony. 
A  native  of  England,  he  gi'aduated  at  Harvard 
College,  in  the  class  of  1651.  For  a  short  time  he 
was  a  tutor  and  professor  in  the  college;  though 
subsequently  he  was  ordained  over  the  church  at 
Maiden,  where  he  remained  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  June  10,  1705.  He  was  the  author  of 
■'  The  Day  of  Doom,"  a  j)oem  which  passed 
through  nine  editions  in  this  country,  and  two  in 
England.  He  had  a  large  medical  practice,  and 
was  accounted  a  skilful  physician. 

Elisha  Cooke  was  a  prominent  physician  as 
well  as  a  politician  of  this  period.  He  was  born 
in  Boston,  September  16,  1637,  and  graduated  at 
Harvard  College  in  the  class  of  1657,  being  one 
of  the  first  natives  of  the  town  that  studied  medi- 
cine. AMnile  esteemed  as  a  physician,  his  reputa- 
tion is  based  more  on  his  labors  in  connection  with 
the  body  pohtic  than  the  body  physical.  He  died 
October  31,  1715,  having  filled  many  public  posi- 
tions of  tnist  and  honor. 

1  Magnalia,  Book  iii.,  Chap,  xxiii.,  140. 


34  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  , 

John  Dunton,  who  came  to  ISTew  England  in 
the  spring  of  1686,  wrote  home  some  interesting 
letters  which  were  pubhshed.  They  contain  con- 
siderable gossip  about  men  and  things  in  the  colo- 
ny at  that  time,  and  refer  in  particular  to  two 
Boston  physicians.  Dr.  Thomas  Oakes — a  brother 
of  President  Oakes,  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
College — Dunton  calls  "the  greatest  -^sculapius 
of  the  Countrey,"  and  says  that — 

"  His  wise  and  safe  Prescriptions  have  expell'd  more  Diseases 
and  rescu'd  Languishing  Patients  from  the  Jaws  of  Death,  than 
Mountebanks  and  Quack-Salvers  have  sent  to  those  dark  Re- 
gions :  And  on  that  score,  Death  has  declar'd  himself  his  Mortal 
Enemy:  Whereas  Death  claims  a  Relation  to  those  Pretenders 
to  Physick,  as  being  both  of  one  Occupation,  viz. :  that  of  Kill- 
ing Men." — ("The  Publications  of  the  Prince  Society,"  iv.  93.) 

In  speaking  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Bullivant,  after- 
ward Governor  Andros's  Attorney-General,  he 
writes  that — 

"  His  Skill  in  Pharmacy  was  such,  as  rendered  him  the  most 
compleat  Pharmacopean,  not  only  in  all  Boston,  but  in  all  New- 
England;  and  is  beside,  as  much  a  Gentleman  as  any  one  in  all 
the  Countrey."  .  .  .  ''  He  is  as  intimate  with  Gallen  and  Hypoc- 
rates  (at  least  ways  with  their  works,)  as  ever  I  have  been  with 
you,  Even  in  our  most  Familiar  Converse.  And  is  so  conversant 
with  the  great  variety  of  Nature,  that  not  a  Drug  or  Simple  can 
Escape  him ;  whose  Power  and  Vertues  are  known  so  well  to 
him,  he  needs  not  Practise  new  Experiments  upon  his  Patients, 
except  it  be  in  desperate  Cases,  when  Death  must  be  expell'd  by 
Death.  This  also  is  Praise-worthy  in  him,  That  to  the  Poor  he 
always  prescribes  cheap,  but  wholesome  Medicines,  not  curing 
them  of  a  Consumption  in  their  Bodies,  and  sending  it  into  their 
Purses;  nor  yet  directing  them  to  the  East-Indies  to  look  for 
Drugs,  when  they  may  have  far  better  out  of  their  Gardens." — 
("  The  Publications  of  the  Prince  Society,"  iv.  94-96.) 

Harvard  College  was  founded  in  the  year  1638; 
and  during  the  period  from  this  time  till  1750, 
there  had  been  but  nine  of  its  graduates  who  had 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS-  35 

ever  received  a  medical  degree.  Of  this  number, 
two  had  taken  it  at  Padna,  in  Italy;  one  each  at 
Cambridge,  Oxford,  Aberdeen,  andLeyden;  and 
three  others  had  received  it  probably  in  England, 
though  the  place  is  not  mentioned.  The  degree 
given  at  Oxford  "was  a  Baccalaureate  of  Medicine. 
Between  the  classes  of  1737  and  1750  there  were 
five  graduates  who  many  years  afterward  received 
from  the  College  the  degree  of  M.D.,  pro  honoris 
causa.  They  were  Dr.  Edward  Augustus  Hol- 
yoke  and  Dr.  Cotton  Tufts,  both  former  presidents 
of  this  Society;  Dr.  John  Sprague,  of  Dedham; 
Dr.  Thomas  Bulfinch,  of  Boston,  and  Dr.  Oliver 
Prescott,  of  Groton. 

The  opportunities  for  successful  imposition  in 
the  treatment  of  disease  w^ere  unusually  favorable 
in  the  early  days  of  the  colony;  and  the  quacks 
were  not  slow  to  avail  themselves  of  the  chances. 
During  the  first  Avinter  at  Boston,  the  Court  of 
Assistants  fined  Nicholas  Knopp  five  pounds — 

"  for  takeing  vpon  him  to  cure  the  scurvey  by  a  water  of  noe 
worth  nor  value,  which  he  solde  att  a  very  deare  rate,  to  bee  iin- 
prisoued  till  hee  pay  his  ffine  or  giue  securytie  for  it,  or  els  to  be 
whipped  &  shalbe  lyable  to  any  mans  accon  of  whome  he  hath 
receaued  money  for  the  s*^  water." — (General  Court  Records, 
i.  67.) 

The  record,  however,  does  not  state  which  dose 
he  took  in  the  way  of  punishment,  but  as  three 
pounds  of  the  fine  were  subsequently  remitted,  it 
is  fair  to  infer  that  he  was  not  whipped.  If  we 
now  had  as  wise  legislation  in  regard  to  medicine, 
there  would  be  less  quackery  in  the  community. 
By  a  law  passed  a  few  years  later,  regulating  the 


36  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

precedence  of  j)assengers  in  ferry-boats,  prefer- 
ence was  given  to  public  personages,  and  to  "  Phy- 
sitians,  Chirnrgeons,  and  Midwives." 

The  colonial  authorities  appear  to  have  taken 
steps,  at  an  early  day,  to  guard  against  the  intro- 
duction of  infectious  and  contagious  diseases  from 
foreign  ports.  An  order  was  passed  by  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  at  the  session  beginning  in  March, 
1647-48,  which  established  a  strict  quarantine 
over  all  vessels  coming  from  the  West  India  Isl- 
ands. It  prohibited  the  landing  of  persons  or 
goods  from  such  vessels,  until  the  Council  saw  fit 
to  decree  otherwise.  At  that  time  "  y^  plague  or 
like  in[fectious]  disease," — perhaps  yellow  fever, — 
was  raging  in  some  of  these  islands,  and  this  fact 
was  the  cause  of  the  order.  During  the  session 
beginning  May,  1649, — one  year  afterward, — it  is 
recorded  that — 

"  The  Courte  doth  thinke  meete,  that  the  order,  concerning  the 
stoping  of  West  India  ships  at  the  Castle  should  hereby  be  re- 
pealed seeing  it  hath  pleased  God  to  stay  the  sicknes  there." — 
(General  Court  Records,  ii.  238.) 

'No  further  sanitary  regulations  are  recorded  until 
October  11,  1665,  when  a  warrant  was  issued  by 
the  General  Court,  ordering  all  vessels  coming 
from  England  to  be  placed  in  quarantine.  This 
order  was  due  to  the  prevalence  of  the  "  plague  " 
in  London  at  that  time;  but  it  was  repealed  just 
two  years  afterward,  owing  to  the  disappearance 
of  the  disease.  The  quarantine  grounds  then 
were  near  the  Castle,  afterward  called  Castle 
"William,  but  now  known  as  Fort  Independence. 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  37 

These  two  orders  appear  to  have  been  made  to 
meet  special  emergencies;  but  they  comprise  the 
whole  legislation  of  the  seventeenth  century,  so 
far  as  it  relates  to  quarantine  in  Massachusetts. 

It  is  said  that  the  first  appearance  of  yellow 
fever,  in  what  is  now  the  United  States,  occurred 
during*  the  summer  of  1693,  in  Boston,  where  it 
had  been  brought  from  Barbadoes.  A  fleet,  under 
the  command  of  Sir  Francis  Wheeler,  arrived  in 
the  early  summer  of  that  year,  after  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  on  the  island  of  Martinico.  Chief  Justice 
Sewall  alludes  to  this  fleet  in  his  Diary  (Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Collections,  fifth  series,  V.  379, 
380),  under  date  of  June  13,  when  he  says  that 
"  severall  of  the  Frigotts  come  up  above  Long 
Island;  "  though  he  does  not  mention  whence  they 
came.  It  is  probable  that  they  had  arrived  within  a 
few  days.    A  short  time  afterward  he  records  that — 

"  Last  night  Tim°  "Wadsworth's  man  dies  of  the  Fever  of  the 
Fleet,  as  is  supposed,  he  having  been  on  board  and  in  the  Hold  of 
some  ship.     Town  is  much  startled  at  it." 

Still  later,  under  date  of  July  24:,  he  writes : — 

"Capt.  Turell    is  buried.      Mr.  Joseph   Dassett   was   buried 

yesterday,  being  much  lamented.     Jn°  Shove  and Saxton 

died  before,  all  of  the  Fleet-Fever,  as  is  suposed;  besides  others. 
The  Town  is  much  startled.  Capt.  Byfield  speaks  of  removing 
his  wife  and  daughters  to  Bristow.  One  of  the  Fleet- Women  dies 
this  day,  July  24:,  1693,  at  David  Johnson's,  over  against  the 
Town-house. 

'•  July  25.  Three  Carpenters  die. 

"July  2t).  Dr.  Pemberton  dies.  Persons  are  generally  under 
much  consternation,  which  Mr.  TVillard  takes  notice  of  in  his 
Prayer." 

At  irregular  intervals  after  this  time,  quarantine 
laws  were  passed  or  modified  to  meet  the  needs  of 
6 


38  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

the  public.  A  necessary  adjunct  to  such  legislation 
was  a  hospital;  and  as  early  as  the  summer  of 
1716,  a  committee  of  the  General  Court  was 
appointed  to  select  a  location  for  such  a  building. 
In  due  time  they  reported  on  two  sites,  Spectacle 
Island  and  Squantum  !N^eck;  but  as  the  owner  of 
the  Island  would  not  sell  it  at  a  fair  price,  they 
recommended  Squantum  as  the  proper  place.  A 
strong  protest  to  this  proposition,  however,  came 
from  the  towns  of  Dorchester,  Braintree,  and 
Milton,  and  that  project  was  abandoned.  But 
during  the  next  year  a  quarantine  hospital  was 
built  on  Spectacle  Island,  which  was  used  for 
infectious  diseases  until  the  year  1737,  when  the 
establishment  was  transferred  to  Rainsford  Island, 
where  it  remained  until  the  year  1849.  It  was 
then  established  on  Deer  Island,  where  it  was  kept 
until  April,  1867,  when  it  was  removed  to  Gallop's 
Island,  at  which  place  the  quarantine  buildings 
for  the  port  of  Boston  are  now  situated. 

In  the  year  1619,  a  law  was  passed  which  is 
commendatory  to  the  wisdom  of  that  time.  It 
regulated,  within  certain  limits,  the  practice  of 
medicine  and  surgery,  and  required  the  practitioner 
to  act  according  to  the  most  approved  precepts  of 
the  art  in  each  domain.  It  was  a  salutary  enact- 
ment, as  far  as  it  went,  but  it  afforded  only  a  slight 
protection  against  the  deficiencies  of  the  profession. 
It  was  like  leaning  on  a  broken  reed,  however, 
since  it  made  no  provision  for  educating  medical 
men  and  established  no  test  of  their  qualifications. 
The  attempt,  however,  is  worthy  of  notice  as  being 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  39 

the  first  one,  on  the  part  of  the  colonial  authorities, 
to  restrain  the  quackery  of  the  day.  The  tendency 
of  the  law  was  to  confine  the  profession  to  skilled 
persons;  and  it  must  be  granted  that  the  whole 
medical  legislation  of  that  period  was  in  the  inter- 
est of  sound  learning,  as  understood  at  the  time. 
The  present  generation  will  do  well  if,  tried  by  the 
standard  two  centuries  hence,  they  display  as  much 
common  sense  in  such  matters  as  was  shown  by 
the  founders  of  the  colony. 
The  law  is  as  follows: — 

Ghirurgeons,  Midwives,  Physitians. 

Forasmuch  as  (he  Law  of  God  allowes  no  man  to  impair e  the 
Life,  or  Limbs  of  any  Person,  but  in  a  judicial  way  ; 

It  is  therefore  Ordered,  That  no  person  or  persons  whatsoever, 
imployed  at  any  time  about  the  bodyes  of  men,  women,  or 
children,  for  preservation  of  life  or  health;  as  Chirurgions,  Mid- 
wives,  Physitians  or  others,  presume  to  exercise,  or  put  forth  any 
act  contrary  to  the  known  approved  Rules  of  Art,  in  each  Mystery 
and  occupation,  nor  exercise  any  force,  violence  or  cruelty  upon, 
or  towards  the  body  of  any,  whether  youug  or  old,  (no  not  in  the 
most  difficult  aud  desperate  cases)  without  the  advice  and  consent 
of  such  as  are  skillfull  in  the  same  Art,  (if  such  may  be  had)  or 
at  least  of  some  of  the  wisest  and  gravest  then  present,  and  con- 
sent of  the  patient  or  patients  if  they  be  mentis  compotes,  much 
less  contrary  to  such  advice  and  consent ;  upon  such  severe  punish- 
ment as  the  nature  of  the  fact  may  deserve,  which  Law  neverthe- 
less, is  not  intended  to  discourage  any  fi-om  all  lawfull  use  of  their 
skill,  but  rather  to  incourage  and  direct  them  in  the  right  use 
thereof,  and  inhibit  and  restreine  the  presumptuous  arrogancy  of 
such  as  through  presidence  of  their  own  skill,  or  any  other  sinister 
respects,  dare  boldly  attempt  to  exercise  any  violence  upon  or 
towards  the  bodyes  of  young  or  old,  one  or  other,  to  the  prejudice 
or  hazard  of  the  life  or  limbe  of  man,  woman  or  child. — ("  The 
General  Laws  and  Liberties  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,"  Cam- 
bridge, 1672,  page  28.) 

The  following  petition  in  manuscript  is  found, 
without  signature  or  date,  among  the  Massachu- 


40  CENTENNIAI.   ADDEESS. 

setts  Archives  at  the  State  House  (IX.  21) .  In 
the  aiTangement  of  the  papers  it  has  been  assigned 
to  the  year  1653,  and  it  belongs  doubtless  to  that 
period.  It  probably  had  some  connection  with  the 
discussion  growing  out  of  the  condition  of  affairs 
which  culminated  in  the  law  just  mentioned: — 

To  the  Honor^'^  Court. 

Wheras  there  be  many  Chirurgions  that  came  over  in  the 
Ships  into  this  Bay,  &  here  practise  both  Fhysick  &  Chirurgery 
to  the  hazarding  of  the  lives  &  limbes  of  some,  &  the  detriment 
of  many,  being  vnskilfuU:  in  those  Arts.  May  it  please  this  Hon- 
oured Court  to  take  it  into  Consideration  whether  such  ought  not 
to  be  restrained,  &  that  first  they  may  be  exercised  by  the  skilfull 
&  authorised  Phisitians  &  Chirurgions  in  this  towne,  &  then  being 
found  skilfull,  &  approved  by  them  may  by  some  Magistrates  be 
licensed  to  practise  the  time  they  are  resident  here,  but  if  any  one 
shall  presume  on  shore  to  practise  w*^out  liberty  granted,  that  some 
fine  may  be  imposed  vpon  him  for  every  such  default  according  to 
you''  discretion. 

With  a  low  standard  of  professional  education 
even  among  the  physicians,  it  was  not  to  be 
expected  that  there  would  be  much  general  intel- 
ligence on  medical  matters  in  the  community  at 
large.  A  stream  never  rises  higher  than  its 
source.  The  ignorant  are  proverbially  credulous 
and  easily  deceived.  The  following  extract  will 
show  the  strain  to  which  weak  credulity  may  be 
put.  It  is  taken  from  "  The  Boston  Weekly 
I^ews-Letter,"  January  14,  1717,  which  was  the 
first  newspaper,  and  at  that  time  the  only  one, 
published  on  this  continent.  Perhaps  some  cynic 
in  this  audience  may  say  that  for  pure  and  unadul- 
terated absurdity  it  can  be  capped  by  almost  any 
quack  advertising  sheet  at  the  present  time,  and  I 
am  not  ready  to  dispute  it. 


CENTENNIAL   ADDEESS.  41 

Boston,  On  the  Lords  clay  IMoriiing  the  sixth  Currant,  a 
straii<:e  thing  fell  uut  here.  One  Thomas  Smith  a  Sawyer  alioiit 
four  ^lonth  ago,  bought  a  Lusty  Tall  new  negro,  (it  for  liis  Employ, 
who  after  complaiiiM  of  something  within  him  that  made  a  Noise 
Chip,  Chip,  Chip;  his  Master  sent  for  a  Doctor,  one  Sebastian 
Henry  Swetzer  a  German,  who  told  him  he  had  Worms,  whereu[)on 
he  gave  him  some  Physick  on  Wednesday:  from  Thursday  till  the 
Lords  Day  he  gave  him  some  Powders,  which  on  the  Lords  Day 
had  that  effect  as  to  cause  him  to  vomit  up  a  long  Worm,  that 
measur'd  a  hundred  and  twenty  eight  Foot,  which  the  negro  took 
to  be  his  Guts;  it  was  almost  as  big  as  ones  little  Finger,  its  Head 
was  like  a  Snakes,  and  would  receive  a  Mans  little  Finger  into  its 
Mouth,  it  was  of  a  whitish  Colour  all  full  of  Joynts,  its  tail  was 
long  and  hard,  and  with  a  Microscope  it  seem'd  to  be  hairy;  the 
Negro  before  voiding  the  Worm  had  an  extraordinary  Stomach. 

Dui"iiig  the  early  days  of  the  Colony  sometimes 
the  booksellers  and  printers  kept  a  small  assort- 
ment of  popnlar  i-emedies  for  common  ailments,  as 
well  as  of  medical  books.  In  an  advertisement  on 
the  last  leaf  of  "The  Moukneks  CORDIAL 
Against  Excessive  SORROW,  "  a  duodecimo 
volume  "  Very  Suitable  to  be  given  at  Funerals," 
written  by  "  Samuel  Willard,  Teacher  of  a 
Church  in  BOSTOX,"  and  published  in  the  year 
1691,  it  is  announced  that — 

That  Excellent  ^»/i(7o/e  against  all  Gv'ip'mgs  called  Aqua  an (i 
torminalis,  which  if  taken  it  not  only  cures  the  Gripings  of  Guts, 
&  Wind  Cholick.  but  preventeth  that  woful  Distemper  the  Dry 
Belly  Ach.  Sold  By  Benjamin  Harris.  Price  os.  the  Half 
Pint  Bottle. 

Harris  was  one  of  the  printersof  the  little  book; 
and  he  advertises  in  the  same  page  "An  Ingenious 
Piece  which  turns  George  Keith  inside  outwards," 
by  Cotton  Mather.  The  price  of  it,  in  boards,  was 
one  shilling, — the  cost  of  about  two  ounces  of  the 
medicine.     At  the  sale  of  a  part  of  the  Brinley 


42  CENTENDS^IAL   ADDEESS. 

library  in  'Ne^Y  York,  two  years  ago,  a  copy  of 
the  same  Avork,  under  the  title  of  "  Little  Flocks 
Guarded  against  Grievous  Wolves,"  fetched 
twenty-eight  dollars. 

The  publisher  of  "  The  Boston  Evening  Post," 
in  his  issue  of  March  21,  1737,  advertises  "  The 
Poor  Man's  Family-Book,  Or,  A  new  Edition 
of  Culpeper^s  London  Dispensatory  "  as  a  work 
"Yery  Useful  for  Families,  especially  in  the 
Country,  where  learned  and  skilful  Phj^sicians  are 
not  very  easily  met  with."  The  merits  of  the 
edition  are  given  with  some  prominence.  The 
book  purports  to  contain : — 

1.  Three  hundred  useful  Additions. 

2.  All  the  Notes  that  ivere  in  the  Margent  are  brought  into 
the  Book  between  two  such  Crotche's  as  these  [         ]. 

3.  The  Virtues,  Qualities  and  Properties  of  every  Simple. 

4.  The  Virtues  and  Use  of  the  Compounds. 

5       Cautions  in  giving  all  Medicines  that  are  dangerous. 

6.  All  the  Medicines  that  ivere  in  the  Old  Latin  Dispensatory, 
and  are  left  out  in  the  New  Latin  one,  are  Printed  in  this  Im- 
pression in  English,  with  their  Virtues. 

7.  A  KEY  to  Galen  and  Hippocrates,  their  Method  of 
PhysLck,  containing  Thirty  three  Chapters. 

8  In  this  Impression  the  Latin  name  of  every  one  of  the 
Compounds  is  Printed,  and  in  what  Page  of  the  new  Folio  Latin 
Book  they  are  to  be  found. 

The  following  advertisement  is  taken  from  "  The 

'New  England  Courant,"  of  December  17,  1722. 

The  substance  of  it  is  much  like  the  quack  notices 

of  the  present  time,  though  the  advertiser  is  more 

considerate  to  the  poor  than  we  are  now  apt  to 

see. 

For  the  Good  of  the  Publick,  a  certain  Person  hath  a  secret 
Medicine  which  cures  the  Gravil  and  Cholick  immediately,  and 
Dry  Belly  Ach  in  a  little  Time;  and  restores  the  Use  of  the  Limbs 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  43 

again,  (tho'  of  never  so  long  Continuance,)  and  is  excellent  for  the 
(ioiit.  Eii(|uiie  of  Mr.  Samuel  Gerrish,  Bookseller,  near  the 
Brick  Meeting  House,  over  against  the  Town-House  in  Boston. 
N.  B.  The  Poor  who  are  not  able  to  pay  for  it,  may  have  it 
gratis. 

The  early  practitioners  of  medicine  had  a  fond- 
ness for  venesection,  and  the  lancet  was  in  constant 
requisition.  Good  Deacon  and  Doctor  Fuller, 
who  lived  at  Plymouth,  writes  to  Governor  Brad- 
ford, under  date  of  June  28,  1630,  "  I  have  been 
at  Matapan  [Dorchester],  at  the  request  of  Mr. 
Warham,  and  let  some  twenty  of  these  people 
blood;  I  had  conference  with  them,  till  I  was 
weary."  This  last  expression  may  have  been  also 
his  guide  in  the  medical  treatment;  that  is,  he 
continued  to  bleed  until  he  got  tired.  Such  heroic 
practice  was  of  common  occurrence,  and  excited 
no  remark.  The  ministers  too  were  expert  in 
phlebotomy,  and  they  were  wont  to  bleed  and  pray, 
in  all  severe  cases.  Then  there  were  the  barber- 
surgeons  who  wielded  with  equal  facility  the  razor 
and  the  lancet,  as  well  as  used  the  jaw-breaking 
key  on  the  aching  teeth  of  their  unfortunate 
friends.  The  pathetic  story  of  William  Dinely 
has  often  been  told.  He  was  a  barber-surgeon 
who  perished  during  a  severe  snow-storm,  De- 
cember 15,  1638,  between  Boston  and  Roxbury, 
whither  he  was  going  to  pull  a  tooth.  It  was  many 
days  before  his  body  was  found,  and  his  poor 
widow  suffered  great  anguish.  Her  grief  hastened 
the  coming  event  which  she  was  anticipating  with 
so  much  joy,  and  she  named  the  baby  Fathergone 
Dinely. 


44:  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

Formerly  in  England  the  patient,  while  under- 
going venesection,  was  wont  to  grasp  a  pole  in 
order  to  make  the  blood  flow  more  freely,  and  as 
the  pole  was  liable  to  be  stained,  it  was  painted 
red.  AYhen  it  was  not  in  use,  the  barber  would 
hang  it  up  on  the  outside  of  his  door,  with  white 
linen  swathing-bands  twisted  round  it.  The  red 
and  white  pole  of  the  present  day,  so  conspicuous 
in  front  of  barbers'  shops,  has  resulted  by  evolution 
from  this  custom.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that,  in 
this  country  since  the  Great  Bebellion,  a  blue 
stripe  is  frequently  added,  making  the  patriotic 
combination  of  the  "  Red,  White,  and  Blue." 

The  character  of  the  diseases  that  prevailed  in 
the  early  days  of  the  colony  was  substantially  the 
same,  though  not  entirely,  as  nowadays.  It  is 
known  that  intermittent  fever  often  occurred  in 
certain  sections  of  Massachusetts,  where  now  it 
is  never  seen. 

The  Reverend  Mr.  Danforth,  of  Roxbury,  during 
the  winter  of  1660,  makes  the  following  entry  in 
the  Church  Records :  "  The  Lord  was  pleased  to 
visite  vs,  with  epidemical  colds,  coughs,  agnes,  & 
fevers." — (Page  199.)  Under  date  of  September 
8, 1671,  he  says  furthermore:  "  This  summer  many 
were  visited  with  y"  ague  &  fever."  And  again 
the  next  year,  September  11,  he  records:  "  Agues 
&  fevers  prevailed  much  among  vs  about  y''  Bay,  &; 
fluxes  &  vomiting  at  Boston."  These  exti-acts  are 
taken  from  the  printed  edition,  previously  noticed. 

John  Josselyn,  who  has  been  already  mentioned 
in  these  pages,  wrote  "  An  Account  of  Two  Yoy- 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  45 

ages  to  New-England,"  which  was  published  at 
London  in  the  year  1674.  He  speaks  of  arriving 
at  Boston,  September  1,  1671,  and  finding  "  the 
Inhabitants  exceedingly  afflicted  with  griping  of 
the  guts,  and  Feaver,  and  Ague,  and  bloody 
Flux." — (Page  213.)  In  another  place  he  says 
that  "  the  Diseases  that  the  English  are  afflicted 
with,  are  the  same  that  they  have  in  England,  with 
some  proper  to  New-England,  griping  of  the  belly 
(accompanied  with  Feaver  and  Ague)  which  turns 
to  the  bloudy-flux,  a  common  disease  in  the  Coun- 
trey."— (Page  183.)  Joshua  Scottow,  m  his  "  Old 
Men's  Tears,"  published  in  1691,  with  a  nomen- 
clature more  expressive  than  elegant  speaks  of  the 
"  burning  and  spotted  Fevers,  shaking  Agues,  dry 
Belly  Achs,  plague  of  the  Guts,  and  divers  other 
sore  distempers"  (page  15),  which  have  afflicted  the 
plantation.  The  plain  Anglo-Saxon  word,  used  as 
a  synonym  of  the  intestinal  canal,  has  gone  down 
in  the  language,  and  become  indelicate  to  this 
generation. 

The  well  ventilated  houses  of  that  period,  while 
inviting  some  disorders,  kept  off  others,  and 
their  occupants  somehow  or  other  managed  to  live 
to  a  good  old  age.  The  men  had  not  as  yet  ac- 
quired the  habit  of  using  those  rasping  liquors,  so 
conducive  to  renal  affections,  but  contented  them- 
selves with  honest  rum  and  pure  wines,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  product  of  their  home-brewing. 
Small-pox  was  to  them  a  terror,  which  has  since 
been  deprived  of  much  of  its  dread.  In  short,  the 
modifications  of  disease,  as  now  seen,   are   due 


46  CENTENI^IAL   ADDRESS. 

principally  to  the  different  circumstances  and  habits 
of  life  prevailing  in  the  community.  The  settlers 
in  the  main  led  quiet  and  unexciting  lives;  and 
there  was  little  tendency  to  those  mental  disorders 
which  are  so  characteristic  of  an  active  business 
community.  The  delicate  relations  existing  be- 
tween the  mind  and  the  body  were  rarely  disturbed 
by  outside  influences ;  and  when  the  manifestation 
of  such  a  disturbance  took  place,  it  was  considered 
a  visitation  from  heaven  or  the  other  place,  and 
the  treatment  was  to  be  found  in  prayer.  If  the 
intellect  was  beclouded  by  a  haze  or  excited  by 
illusions,  the  explanation  was  sought  anywhere 
but  in  the  right  direction.  It  was  not  known  that 
there  are  physical  causes  for  many  metaphysical 
facts. 

Twenty  years  before  the  outbreak  of  witchcraft 
at  Salem,  a  young  maiden  of  Groton  was  seized 
with  a  variety  of  nervous  disorders,  constituting  a 
well-marked  case  of  hysteria,  which  created  a 
great  deal  of  excitement  in  the  town.  At  the 
outset  it  baffled  the  skill  of  the  neighbors,  who 
were  inclined  to  think  that  she  was  possessed  of 
the  devil;  and  the  minister  was  called  in,  who 
talked  with  her  and  prayed  with  her,  but  all  to  no 
purpose.  A  physician  was  sent  for  next,  "  who 
judged  a  raaine  p*  of  her  distemper  to  be  naturall, 
arising  from  the  foulnesse  of  her  stomacke  & 
corruptnesse  of  her  blood,  occasioning  fumes  in 
her  braine,  &  strange  fansyes."  Finally  the  poor 
girl  confessed  that  she  had  made  a  covenant  with 
the  Devil;  and  her  actions  were  so  strange  that 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  47 

the  doctor  was  nonplussed  and  threw  up  the  case. 
He  then  "  consented  that  the  distemper  was  Dia- 
bolicall,  refused  further  to  administer,  advised  to 
extraordinary  fasting."  A  council  of  ministers 
was  convened  to  consider  the  matter,  but  they 
did  not  seem  to  help  her.  The  poor  girl  afterward 
declared  that  she  had  signed  a  league  with  his 
black  majesty,  in  her  own  blood.  It  is  not  recorded 
what  became  of  the  girl;  but  if  she  had  been 
attacked  twenty  years  later,  she  would  have  been 
tried  and  hanged  as  a  witch.  A  long  account  of 
the  case  is  given  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Collections,  fourth  series,  YIH.  555. 

Much  of  the  mist  in  the  medical  atmosphere  of 
the  colony  had  been  blo^vn  from  the  shores  of 
the  mother-country.  The  credulity  of  the  igno- 
rant was  remarkable.  In  England  the  touch  of 
the  royal  monarch, 

"  Such  sanctity  hath  Heaven  given  his  hand," 

was  considered  a  specific  for  the  King's  evil  or 
scrofula.  The  custom  began  as  early  as  the  reign 
of  Edward  the  Confessor,  and  was  kept  up  until 
that  of  George  I.,  when  it  was  dropped.  At  one 
time  a  form  of  prayer  used  in  touching  for  the 
evil  was  inserted  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 
It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  some  lingering 
faith  in  the  absurd  custom  should  crop  out  in  'New 
England.  A  petition  is  on  file,  among  the  Massa- 
chusetts Archives  (CXXYIH.  270),  from  a  poor 
man  askmg  the  Governor  to  grant  him  a  hrief, 
which  is  another  name  for  a  license  to  collect 
money  for  a  specified  purpose.    It  is  as  follows : — 


48  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

To  his  Excellencys  S'  Edmund  Andrews  Cap*  Gen""!^  of  all  his 
Majesties  fforses  of  New  England  and  Governour  of  all  y^  said 
Territoryes 

The  humble  petition  of  William  Hutchins  Inhabitant  In  y'^ 
province  of  New  Hampshrie     In  New  England 

Humble  Sheweth  That  y^  Lord  hath  been  pleased  through  his 
Righteousn  [ess]  to  visit  and  correct  yo''  poore  Supplycant  about 
y®  space  [or]  terme  of  Six  yeares  with  vntollerable  soors  all  over 
his  Bo[dy]  Not  withstanding  hee  hath  made  vse  y^  Most  Learned 
&  Scilfulest  phisitians  that  hee  could  heare  off;  but  found  .  .  . 
[rem]edy  as  to  his  Cure ;  And  Sundry  persons  Judgment  is,  that 
the  Lord  hath  apointed  to  Salve  yo''  much  aflected  Supplycant  non 
but  our  Gracious  Leight  the  King,  Therefore  hee  and  many  others 
Humbly  Concaves  that  It  is  y^  sors  th[at]  is  Commonly  called 
y^  Kings  Evell,  And  though  his  aflection  bee  Exceeding  Greifeous 
by  his  Ilnesse  of  Body  hee  would  redresse  hims  selue  to  o"^  Sover- 
aige  Lord  y^  King  for  Remedy  not  Doubting  but  God  hath  ap- 
pointed him  for  much  good  to  all  his  Subjects,  and  in  particular  to 
yo''  poore  aflected  petition',  but  am  withhoulden  from  his  goeing  to 
his  Majestic,  by  his  Exceeding  pourety ;  for  one  aflection  Seldome 
comes  without  Its  secound  viz'  .    .    . 

Therefore  yo'^  poore  aflected  petition""  Humbly  Beeseeches 
yo''  Excellency  soe  to  Consider  yo"^  poore  Deploreable  and  much 
aflected  petition"  Condition ;  And  y'  yo"^  Excellency  would  bee 
please  to  Grannt  him  A  Breife;  to  see  what  Christian  people 
wilbe  please  freely  to  Contribute  towards  yo""  petition'"  transporta- 
tion And  In  so  Doeing  It  will  oblige  him  pray  for  yo""  Excellency 
health  &  hapj)ynesse  and  Subscrieb  himsefie  Yo''  obliged  and 

Dutyfull  Serv* 

June  19,  1688  William  Hutchins. 

I  introduce  the  following  papers,  found  among 
the  Massachusetts  Archives  at  the  State  House,  in 
order  to  show,  in  some  particulars,  the  position  of 
medical  matters  during  the  early  history  of  the 
colony.  They  throw  certain  side-lights  on  simple 
subjects,  and  help  to  illustrate  the  daily  affairs  of 
colonial  life. 

The  first  is  a  petition  presented  to  the  General 
Court,  in  the  year  1645.  It  was  written  by  Dr. 
Thomas  Oliver,  a  practising  physician  of  Boston, 
who  was  a  most  useful  citizen,  active  both  in  town 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  49 

and  church  matters.  In  John  Hull's  Diary,  pul)- 
lished  in  the  "  Archaeologia  Americana "  (III. 
182),  it  is  recorded  that  "  The  1st  of  the  11th 
month  [January  1,  1657-8],  Mr.  Thomas  OHver, 
one  of  the  ruling  elders  of  this  church,  died,  being 
ninety  years  old, — a  man  by  his  outward  profession 
a  chirurgeon." 

May  it  please  this  honored  Court  to  Consider  of  y*  Paines  and 
Cost:  I  haue  bin  at  in  dressing.  Joseph  White  of  y^  disease  called 
y*  kings  evill.  n*"  hath  bine  vnder  my  hand  vpon  .  20  .  months  lioth 
for  sergery  .  and  phisick.  y^  disease  being  in  my  Judgment  hard 
to  be  Cured  w'  out  amputation  (w*^  y^  boy  would  never  Consent 
vnto)  yet  I  know  not  what  y^  lord  will  do  in  blessing  y^  meanes 
vsed.  for  he  is  in  good  ease  for  y*  pressent  and  is  able  to  workefor 
his  liuing  and  begine  to  tread  upon  his  foote 

Y"  in  all  dewty  to  be  c6       Tho  :  Oliver 

I  would  for  the  time  past  if  it.  please  you  .  demand  for  my  Pains 
and  Cost  12-00-00 

The  magistrates  judge  it  reasonable  that  the  Petitioner  demand 
should  be  granted  &  desire  the  concurrence  of  the  Deputyes 
herein 

(Massachusetts  Archives,  c.  10.)      '     ' 

There  are  other  petitions  of  a  similar  character, 
and  bills  for  medical  attendance  made  out  against 
the  government,  which  are  on  file  at  the  State 
House.  Sometimes  such  papers  were  acted  on 
favorably  by  the  public  oflBcers,  and  sometimes  not; 
though  I  am  unable  to  find  out  by  what  authority 
such  accounts  were  paid,  except  on  the  broad 
ground  of  Christian  charity.  As  early  as  the  year 
1641,  the  General  Court  ordered  that  it  would 
"grant  no  Benevolence,  except  in  forreign  occa- 
sions, and  wdien  there  is  Money  in  the  Treasury 
sufficient,  and  our  debts  first  satisfied."^ 

^  The  General  Laws  and  Liberties  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  page  9. 


50  CENTEimiAL   ADDRESS. 

Another  paper  of  the  same  import  as  Oliver's 
is  that  of  John  Endicott,  Jr.,  who  gives  the  items 
of  his  bill ;  and  with  it  are  other  documents.  They 
are  as  follows: — 

Kno\y  all  men  by  theas  preasence  that  I  John  Clarke  beinge 
ueiT  sicke  and  haue  bin  with  M''  Talor  but  finding  no  good,  by  the 
Gouerners  order  was  sent  to  W  Endecott  and  through  the  goodnes 
of  god  am  recouered  out  of  that  disease 

As  witnes  my  hand :  Jo°  Clarke 

the  28  10  67 

a  poor  man  one  John  Clarke  being  weak  and  sike  by  reason  of 
a  scuruy  and  a  dropsy,  by  the  Consent  of  the  Gouerner  came  to  me 
and  through  the  goodnes  of  god  by  the  use  of  such  means  as  god 
ht  put  in  to  my  heart  he  is  finly  recouered  out  of  his  diseas 

Jo.  Endecott     Cirurgio" 

M  Endecott  after  y'  M'^  Taler  came  to  me  and  gaue  him  over, 
did  undertake  to  helpe  him,  &  hath  beene  at  Labor  and  cost  about 
it  and  though  the  disease  be  treated  yet  the  man  wanting  goodi*e- 
freshinge  is  but  weake.     I  desire  that  M''  Endecott  may  be  .  .  . 

E,i.  Bellingham  G. 
Debiter  to  John  Endicott  for  the  Cure  of  J[ohn  Clarke,] 

By  Conserue  de  Asinthium 01     00 

By  a  Vomit  and  atendans 00     05     00 

By  a  Cordiall  Electuary 00     10     00 

By  Conserue  de  Cochlearia 00     10     00 

By  visets  and  seuerall  other  medisense    .     .     01     00 

03     05      T 
Taken  out  of  M"'  John  Endicotts  booke  written  by  him  selfe 

The  Deputyes  Judge  meete  that  this  bill  of  3^''  5'  0.  be  payd  to 
the  Successor  of  M^  John  Endecott  by  the  Coinittee  appoynted  to 
take  care  of  those  poore  people,  if  they  haue  any  Stocke  in  their 
hands,  or  otherwise  that  it  be  payd  by  the  Country  Treasurer,  with 
refferrence  to  the  Consent  of  oF  Hon^^    magists  hereto 

18 :  8'.^  1868  William  Torrey  Cleric 

not  Consented  too  by  y®  Magistrats 

p  curiam  John  Pynchon 
but  on  further.  Consideration.  Judge  meet  to  refeer  to  the  Treasurer 
who  on  Conferenc  w*''  some  phisitian  may  allow  him  what  he  see' 
Just,  their  brethren  the  deputy  hereto.  Consenting: 

Edw.  Rawson  Secret 

Consented  to  by  the  Deputyes  "William  Torrey  Cleric 

(Massachusetts  Archives,  c.  119-122.) 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  51 

The  following  bill  gives  a  fiiir  idea  of  the  fees 
for  visits  and  the  cost  of  medicines  two  hundred 
years  ago,  when  physicians  furnished  their  own 
drugs.  Richard  Skinner  v^as  a  mariner,  and  it 
seems  that  a  suit  was  brought  against  him,  by  Dr. 
Bassett,  for  medical  attendance  on  his  late  wife. 
It  is  not  recorded  what  vv^as  the  matter  with  her, 
but  it  is  evident  that  one  of  her  symptoms  was 
constipation. 

Novemfc  23°  1691  M^  Skinners  Bill  for 

medicam'"  Aclministrecl  to  his  late  Wife 

£  s  d 

Imp"  One  great  laxative  potion  to  be  taken  in  two  doses  .  0  4  0 

24°     one  laxative  Glister 0  2  0 

more  another  Glister  the  same  day 0  2  0 

more   one   Great   Cordial   potion  to  take  at  seuall 

times 040 

more  another  great  potion  to  evacuate  the  humors  as 

aboue 040 

for  diuers  visitts  to  giue  orders  for  her  moderating  )  o  p  n 
herselfe  in  her  dyet  &  otlier  necessarie  advice      ) 

Xemfc  1*'  for  one  prize  Nephritick  pills 0  3  0 

more  for  one  Laxatiue  ditto 0  3  0 

for  another  potion  more  Composed 0  4  0 

10    for    a   great    sudoritiq    &    divretique    potion)  oAa 

against  the  obstruction  of  the  reines  j 

for   more   vissitts   as   aboue   being  in  all  aboue  40 

Times 060 

for  Blooding  her  in  the  Arme 0  10 

Error  Excepted    in  Boston  the  26"^  Aprill  1692 

Peter  Bassett  Doctor 

April.  27. 1692  Dr.  Peter  Bassett  made  Oath  to  the  Account 
above  in  County  Court 

Attest  Joseph  Webb  Cler 

(Massachusetts  Archives,  xxxvii.  335.) 

The  following  letter  gives  a  list  of  medicines  that 
were  probably  in  common  use  at  the  time  of  its 
date.    It  was  written  by  Dr.  Humphrey  Bradstreet, 


52  centen:nial  address. 

just  after  the  attack  made  by  the  Indians  on  York, 
Maine,  when  there  was  a  large  number  of  Enghsh 
killed,  wounded,  or  carried  away  by  the  enemy. 
Dr.  Bradstreet  was  a  young  physician,  who  after- 
ward settled  at  Rowley,  Massachusetts.  Some  of 
the  names  in  the  list,  to  say  the  least,  are  quaint. 
Oleum  catellorum  or  puppies'  oil,  as  a  medicine, 
has  gone  out  of  use,  but  skunk's  oil,  rattlesnake's 
oil,  and  goose's  oil,  equally  absurd,  are  all  now  to 
be  found  in  the  domestic  pharmacopoeia  of  many 
a  ]N^ew-England  family.  The  Latinity  of  some  of 
the  words  may  be  questioned,  and  it  would  be 
difficult  to  give  their  modern  equivalents.  A  Latin 
suffix  on  an  Anglo-Saxon  root  looks  odd,  but  at 
the  same  time  JEm])lastrtim  Sticticum  is  expressive. 
The  letter  contains  an  expression  that  has  dropped 
out  of  the  technical  language  of  the  profession. 
After  speaking  of  medicines  for  "gunn  shott 
wounds  as  for  y®  first  intentions,"  the  writer  goes 
on  to  say  that  he  has  some  still  left  that  "might  be 
prop*"  for  y^  last  Intentions  but  not  for  y^  first." 
Every  physician  is  familiar  with  the  term^rsi^  inten- 
tion as  applied  to  the  healing  of  wounds ;  but  last 
intention  is  now  never  heard  in  such  cases,  though  it 
is  easy  to  see  that  it  means  healing  by  granulation. 

Portsm^  January  y^  26:   169| 
To  the  Hon''^®  the  Gouern'^  and  Councill  of  y*  Massatuset  Collony 

in  N  England 

May  it  please  your  honours  I  make  bold  with  all  humble  sub- 
mission to  acquaint  yo'  Honours  that  I  am  altogather  out  of 
Medicens  for  gunn  shott  wounds  as  for  y®  first  Intentions,  and  as 
wee  liaue  had  verry  lamentable  Incursions  soe  lately  at  York  and 
killing  and  wounding  «&  Carrying  away,  as  your  Hon"  have  al- 
ready heard  wee  humbly  hope,  and  how  suddaiuly  we  may  haue 
y'  like  God  only  knows — y/"^  in  his  Mercie  preuent,  and  should 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 


53 


Erap'diachylonCum  gunil  lb 


Emp.  diacalcitlieos 
Sperrit  of  wine    . 
Gum  Galbanum    . 
gum  Elemni    . 
gum  Olibanum 
Gum.  Ypliorbium 
Hordium  s-alicum 


1  lb 
1  lb 
4  § 
55 
45 

35 
6  1b 


I  be  Comma[n]ded  to  march  out  with  an  armie  Speeclely  Such 
things  must  be  procured  but  Cannot  be  had  here,  and  for  those 
few  medicens  y'  were  last  sent  Some  of  them  might  be  prop'  for 
y*"  last  Intentions  but  not  for  y*  first,  I  haue  made  bold  to  Intimate 
vnderneath  wliat  medisens  may  be  proper,  humbly  subscribe  that 
I  am     Yo!  lion?  most  Ready  and  humbly  denoted  Seru'. 

Humphry  Beadstreet. 
Electuarium  lenitivum    .  2  lb 
PiluUn  Rudii    .     .     .     .  ^  lb 
Olium  Catellorium    .     .  2  lb 
Olium  hypericonis  cum 

gumis 3  lb 

Olium  hyperici  Simp  .  2  lb 
Olium  f  erebinthani  .  .  2  lb 
Olium  Succini  .  .  .  1  § 
Vnguent  deminio  Suie 

rubrura  Camphra  .  .  1  lb 
Yng  album  1  lb     Vug 

Nicotiana  .  .  .  .  1  lb 
Vng  dialthea  .  .  .  .  1  lb 
Vng  diapumphologus  .  1  lb 
Vng  populeon  .  .  .  1  lb 
"Vn :  anodinum  .  .  .  1  lb 
Yng :  Egiptiacum  .  .lib 
fflos  vnguentorum  .  .  1  lb 
Emplast  Sticticum  .  .  1  lb 
Empla  diapallma      .     .  1  lb 

The  women  had  their  representatives  in  the 
profession  in  olden  times  as  well  as  in  onr  day, 
thongh  they  were  not  so  strennons  in  regard  to 
their  political  rights  as  are  their  modern  sisters. 
Anne  Hutchinson  was  among  the  earliest  of  the 
sisterhood  who  practised  medicine  in  Massa- 
chusetts. She  came  to  Boston  in  the  year  1636, 
and  in  "  A  Short  Story,"  &c.,  by  Thomas  "Welde 
(London,  1644),  she  is  spoken  of  as  a  person 
"  very  helpfull  in  the  times  of  child-birth,  and  other 
occasions  of  bodily  infirmities,  and  well  furnished 

8 


(Massachusetts  Archives,  xxxvii.  251.) 


54  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

with  means  for  those  purposes." — (Page  31.)  She 
was  a  noted  character  m  colonial  history,  and  by 
her  heretical  teachings  and  preachings  soon  threw 
the  whole  settlement  into  a  flame,  for  which  she 
was  subsequently  banished. 

The  town  of  Rehoboth,  Massachusetts,  on  July 

3,1663,  "  voted  and  agreed  that [Mrs. 

Bridget  Fuller,  of  Plymouth,]  should  be  sent  to, 
to  see  if  she  be  willing  to  come  and  dwell  amongst 
us,  to  attend  on  the  ofiice  of  a  midwife,  to  answer 
the  town's  necessity,  which  at  present  is  great." — 
(Bliss's  History,  page  53.) 

Mrs.  Fuller  was  the  widow  of  Dr.  Samuel  Fuller, 
one  of  the  Mayflower  passengers,  who  has  been 
mentioned  before  in  these  pages.  This  official 
invitation,  however,  was  not  accepted,  as  she  con- 
tinued to  dwell  in  Plymouth,  where  she  died  some 
time  during  the  next  year.  She  had  learned  the 
art,  doubtless,  from  her  husband. 

In  the  Poxbury  Church  Pecords,  under  date  of 
IsTovember  27,  1665,  Mr.  Danforth,  the  minister, 
vn-ites : — 

"  M"  Sarah  Alcock  dyed,  a  vertuous  woman,  of  vnstained  life, 
very  skilful  in  jjliysickdi  cliirurgery,  exceeding  active  yea  vnwear- 
ied  in  ministering  to  y^  necessities  of  others.  Her  workes  praise 
her  in  y^  gates." — (Page  203.) 

Her  husband,  like  Mrs.  Fuller's,  was  a  physician; 
and  he  is  mentioned  in  the  next  paragraph. 

Two  years  later,  March  27,  1667,  it  is  recorded 
in  the  same  book  that  "  M''  John  Alcock  Physician, 
dyed.  His  liver  was  dryed  up  &  become  schir- 
rous." — (Page  205.)  Possibly  an  autopsy  was 
made  in  this  case. 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  55 

The  following  quaint  epitaph  is  found  in  the 
Phipps  Street  burying-ground  at  Charlestown,  and 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  occasionally  in  early 
times  midwives  were  commissioned  to  practise 
their  calling.  Some  mischievous  person  has  skil- 
fully changed  the  number  on  the  stone  slab,  so 
that  3,000  reads  130,000  :— 

Here  lyes  Interred  y*  Body  of 

M?    Elizabeth   Phillips,    Wife 

to  Mr  Eleazer  Phillips.  Who 

was  Born  in  Westminster,  in  Great 

Brittain.  &  Commission'd  by  John 

Lord.  Bishop,  of  London,  in  y^  Year 

1718  to  y^  Office  of  a  Midwife;  &  came 

to  this  Country,  in  y°  Year  1719.  &  by 

y^  Blessing  of  God,  has  brought  into 

this  world  above  3000  Children : 
Died  May  6'"  1761.    Aged  76  Years. 

In  the  year  1648  Margaret  Jones,  of  Charles- 
town,  was  found  guilty  of  witchcraft ;  and  she  was 
the  first  person  hanged  in  ISTew  England  for  that 
offence.  She  had  been  a  practising  physician,  and 
her  medicines,  according  to  the  best  testimony  of 
that  period,  had  "  extraordinary  violent  effects." 
It  w^as  said  that  "  she  would  use  to  tell  such  as 
would  not  make  use  of  her  physic,  that  they 
would  never  be  healed,  and  accordingly  their 
diseases  and  hurts  continued,  with  relapse  against 
the  ordinary  course,  and  beyond  the  apprehension 
of  all  physicians  and  surgeons." 

In  this  way  she  used  her  powers  as  a  witch  to 
acquire  practice  and  increase  her  gains ;  according 
to  the  judgment  of  her  contemporaries,  she  suf- 
fered a  just  penalty  of  her  sins.     I  wonder  much 


56  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

whether  there  is  any  similar  travesty  of  intelli- 
gence in  our  day.  The  pretensions  of  the  healing 
mediums  and  other  charlatans  suggest  an  unsatis- 
factory answer. 

Subsequent  to  this  period  inquests  were  held, 
and  post  morteiin  examinations  made,  at  various 
times  in  Massachusetts  during  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  a  certain  amount  of  anatomical 
knowledge  was  thus  picked  up.  The  relative 
position  of  the  internal  organs  and  their  general 
appearance  were  learned  in  this  way  by  the  persons 
who  witnessed  the  operations.  The  advantages 
that  one  may  derive  from  his  opportunities  depends 
upon  himself  alone,  and  at  this  late  day  it  cannot 
be  estimated  how  much  the  profession  gained  from 
these  limited  sources.  JSTo  one  can  tell  how  far 
thought  in  the  early  dawn  of  colonial  medicine 
was  stimulated  by  such  examinations. 

The  result  of  an  inquest  held  June  1,  1676,  on 
the  body  of  Jacob  Goodale,  is  recorded  in  the 
Essex  County  Court  Papers  (Yolume  XXX.  leaf 
46),  at  Salem,  in  the  complaint  against  Giles 
Corey.     The  jury  found — 

"  seueral  wrougs  he  hath  had  on  his  body,  as  vpon  his  left  arms 
and  vpon  his  right  thigh,  a  great  bruise,  w'^^  is  very  much  swold. 
and  vpon  the  reynes  of  his  backe.  in  colour,  differinge  from  the 
other  parts  of  his  body  we  caused  an  incision  to  be  made  much 
bruised  and  Run  w"^  a  gelly  and  the  skin  broke  vpon  the  outside 
of  each  buttocke. 

Sworne  to  30:  4^  76" 

This  is  the  case  which  Cotton  Mather  mentions 
in  "  The  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World." — 
(Boston,  1693.)     It  is  there  stated — 


CENTElJraiAL   ADDEESS.  57 

"That  abont  Seventeen  Years  ago,  Giki^  Gory  kept  a  man  in 
his  House,  that  was  ahnost  a  Natural  Fool;  which  Man  DyM  sud- 
denly. A  Jury  was  Impannel'd  upon  him,  among  whom  was 
Dr.  Zorvhbdbd  Endicol ;  who  found  the  man  bruised  to  Death, 
and  having  cloddcrs  of  Blood  about  his  Heart." — (l^agc  140.) 

In  an  inquest  held  May  2, 1678,  and  recorded  in 
the  Essex  County  Court  Papers  (Yohuiie  XXX. 
leaf  40),  at  Salem,  the  return  is  made  by  the 
"  Chirurgeon  "  that  he — 

"  searcht  the  Body  of  one  called  Edward  Bodye:  I  made  Inci- 
sion upon  the  parte  of  his  Body  which  was  most  suspitious  which 
was  upon  the  Temporall  Muscle:  I  layd  the  Bones  Beare:  wee 
could  nott  find  any  fracture  in  the  least  nether  was  the  fiesh  in 
any  wise  corupted  or  putrified." 

An  acconnt  of  an  autopsy  is  given  in  the 
Roxbury  Church  Records.  It  is  found  in  the 
printed  copy,  under  date  of  August  20,  1674,  and 
is  as  follows: — 

"  John  Bridge,  died  of  y"  Winde  Collick  and  was  buried  the 
day  following.  His  body  was  opened,  he  had  sundry  small  holes 
in  his  stomak  &  bowels,  &  one  hole  in  his  stomak  y'  a  man's  fist 
might  passe  through,  w'^h  is  thought  was  rent  w*  vyolent  strain- 
ing to  vomit,  the  night  before  he  dyed,  for  the  watchers  observed 
y'  something  seemed  to  rend  w*''in  him,  and  he  saide  of  it  I  am  a 
dead  man." — (Page  181.) 

This  is  one  of  the  earliest  recorded  instances  of 
a  jyost  mortem  examination,  to  be  found  in  ^ew 
England. 

Josselyn  mentions  an  autopsy  which  occurred 
before  this  one,  buj^  he  gives  no  definite  facts  with 
regard  to  it.  In  "  An  Account  of  Two  Voyages 
to  ]^ew-England "  (London,  1674),  he  speaks  of— 

"  a  young  maid  that  was  troubled  with  a  sore  pricking  at  her 
heart,  still  as  she  lean'd  her  body  or  stept  down  with  her  foot  to 
the  one  side  or  the  other ;  this  maid  during  her  distemper  voided 


58  CENTEiraXAJL   ADDRESS. 

worms  of  the  length  of  a  finger  all  hairy  with  black  heads ;  it  so 
fell- out  that  the  maid  dyed;  her  friends  desirous  to  discover  the 
cause  of  the  distemper  of  her  heart,  had  her  open'd,  and  found  two 
crooked  bones  growing  upon  the  top  of  the  heart,  which  as  she 
bowed  her  body  to  the  right  or  left  side  would  job  their  points 
into  one  and  the  same  place,  till  they  had  worn  a  hole  quite 
through."— (Page  186.) 

Chief  Justice  Sewall  in  his  Diary,  September 
22,  1676,  speaks  of  an  Indian  who  had  been  hanged 
the  day  before,  and  dissected  on  the  date  of  the 
entry  in  the  journal.  The  examination  was  made 
in  the  presence  of  several  persons,  when  one  of 
them — probably  Hooper  by  name — "  taking  the  ^ 
in  his  hand  affirmed  it  to  be  the  stomack." 

The  earliest  treatise  on  a  medical  subject,  pub- 
lished in  this  country,  was  a  broadside,  12  inches 
by  17  in  size,  written  b}^  the  Keverend  Thomas 
Thacher,  the  first  minister  of  the  "  Old  South." 
It  bears  date  January  21,  1677-8,  and  was  printed 
and  sold  by  John  Foster,  Boston.  The  title  is 
"  A  Brief  Rule  To  guide  the  Common  People  of 
New  England  How  to  order  themselves  and  theirs 
in  the  Small  Pocks,  or  Measels."  It  was  intended 
to  furnish  some  popular  hints  hi  regard  to  the 
management  of  this  disease,  which  was  then  much 
more  prevalent  than  now.  A  second  edition  of 
this  "  Brief  Pule"  was  printed  in  the  year  1702. 

Dr.  Increase  Mather  wrote  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"  Some  fiivther  Accountfroni  London,  of  the  Small- 
Pox  Inoculated.  The  Second  Edition.  With  some 
Remarks  on  a  late  Scandalous  Pamphlet  Entituled, 
Inoculation  of  the  Small-Pox  as  practised  in  Bos- 
ton," (fee,  Boston,  1721.  The  first  half  of  this 
pamphlet   appeared    originally   in   "  The    Boston 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  59 

Gazette,"  of  February  5,  1721-22,  Xo.  115,  cover- 
ing the  third  page  of  the  newspaper;  and  this 
impression  constituted  the  first  edition.  Dr. 
Mather  was  also  the  author  of  a  broadside  printed 
at  Boston,  in  November,  1721,  giving  "  Several 
Eeasons  proving  that  Inoculating  or  Transplanting 
the  Small-Pox  is  a  Lawful  Practice,  and  that  it 
has  been  Blessed  by  GOD  for  the  Saving  of  many 
a  Life." 

There  is  "  A  LETTER,  about  a  Good  Jfanage- 
ment  under  the  Distemiyer  of  the  Measles,"  &c., 
which  was  printed  without  date  or  signature,  some 
time  during  the  last  century.  It  is  mentioned  by 
Dr.  Josiah  Bartlett,  in  his  historical  address  deli- 
vered before  this  Society,  June  6, 1810,  who  speaks 
of  it  as  being  "  on  the  files  "  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  and  leaves  it  to  be  inferred  that 
it  is  in  manuscript.  Dr.  Bartlett  says  that  it  was 
written,  probably,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century,  and  that  "  it  can  be  viewed  in  no 
other  light,  than  as  an  ancient  curiosity."  Several 
writers  of  medical  history  have  repeated  the  same 
statement.  The  copy  of  the  "  Letter "  in  the 
possession  of  the  Historical  Society  is  a  small 
four-page,  printed  sheet,  and  its  full  title  is 
"  A  LETTER,  ahout  a  Good  Management  under 
the  DisteiJijjer  of  the  Measles,  at  this  time  Spread- 
ing in  the  Country.  Here  Published  for  the  Benefit 
of  the  Poor,  and  such  as  mag  ivant  the  help  of 
Able  Physicians.''^ 

It  bears  the  marks  of  having  been  folded,  and 
in  former  times  might  have  been  spoken  of  as  "  on 


60  CEN^TENN^IAIi   ADDRESS. 

the  files."  It  is  signed  "  Your  Hearty  Friend 
and  Servant,-''  and  immediately  below,  the  words 
"  Cotton  Mather,  I  guess,  by  the  Style  "  are  written 
in  Dr.  Jeremy  Belknap's  hand- writing.  On  the 
authority  of  this  guess  it  has  been  ascribed  to  Dr. 
Mather;  and  in  the  catalogue  of  ante-revolutionary 
publications  given  in  the  "  Transactions "  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society,  it  has  been  referred 
to  the  year  1713  as  the  date  of  its  appearance, 
because  at  that  time  measles  were  very  prevalent 
in  Boston.  An  advertisement,  however,  in  "  The 
Boston  Evening  Post,"  ]!!^ovember  12,  1739,  an- 
nounces this  "  Letter  " — with  its  long  title  given 
exactly — as  "  Just  published,"  which  would  seem 
to  fix  the  time  of  its  appearance.  As  Mather  died 
February  13,  1728,  it  is  plain  that  he  could  not 
have  written  it,  unless  it  was  a  re-publication,  of 
which  there  is  no  evidence. 

Cotton  Mather,  however,  did  write  a  medical 
paper  entitled  "  The  Angel  of  Bethesda,  An  Essay 
upon  the  Common  Maladies  of  Mankind,"  in  which 
he  gives  a  list  of  "  approved  remedies  for  the 
Maladies,  Accompanied  with  many  very  practicable 
Directions  for  the  Preservation  of  Health."  The 
original  manuscript,  which  was  never  published  in 
full,  is  in  the  possession  of  the  American  Anti- 
quarian Society  at  Worcester.  An  interesting 
abstract  of  it  was  given  by  Dr.  Joseph  Sargent, 
in  the  "  Proceedings  "  of  that  Society,  for  April 
28,  1874.  There  is  internal  proof  that  the  essay 
was  completed  after  the  year  1721.  It  should 
not  be  confounded  with  "  The  Angel  of  Beth- 


CENTEKN'TAL   ADDEESS.  Gl 

esda,  Yisiting  tlio  rNTYALIDS  of  a  Miserable 
WORLD,"  another  tract  written  by  Mather,  and 
pubhshed  at  'Ne^Y  London,  Connecticut,  in  the 
year  1722,  but  having*  on  the  title-page  only  the 
signature  "By  a  FELLOW  of  the  ROYAL 
SOCIETY."  There  is  evidently  a  connection  be- 
tween the  two  works,  but  the  manuscript  one  is 
fuller  and  more  extensive. 

Another  medical  tract  by  a  minister, — the  Rev- 
erend Benjamin  Colman, — was  "  Some  Ohserva- 
tions  on  the  New  Method  of  Receiving  the  Small- 
Pox  by  Ingrafting  or  Inoculating.  By  Mr. 
ColmanP — (Boston,  1721.)  The  author  shows  as 
much  familiarity  with  the  subject  as  was  common 
among  the  medical  writers  of  that  day.  He  ex- 
presses the  opinion  that  he  does  not  go  out  of  his 
province  in  preparing  the  essay,  as  his  sole  purpose 
is  to  preserve  life  and  minister  to  the  comfort  of 
families. 

The  Reverend  Thomas  Harward, "  A  Licentiate 
of  the  Royal  College.,  and  Lecturer  of  the  Royal 
Chapelt  [now  King's  Chapel],  at  Boston,  in  N'eio 
England,^''  wrote  "Electuarium  ]Srovum  Alexiphar- 
macum;  or.  Anew  Cordial,  Alexiterial  and  Resto- 
rative Electuary,"  which  was  published  at  Boston, 
in  the  year  1732.  The  author  proposed  a  much- 
mixed  conglomeration  to  take  the  place  of  mith- 
radate,  a  still  more  complicated  mass  of  medicated 
confusion.  He  speaks  of  the  electuary  as  "  my 
own,"  a  form  of  expression  which  furnished  the 
origin  of  the  word  nostrum,  meaning  our  own  or 

my  oivn. 

9 


62  CENTENlSriAL   ADDRESS. 

Dr.  jN^athaiiiel  AYilliams,  who  had  been  an  or- 
damed  minister,  wrote  a  medical  pamphlet  which 
was  printed  many  years  after  his  death.  The  title 
was  "The  METHOD  of  Practice  in  the  Small- 
Pox,  with  Observations  on  the  "Way  of  Inocula- 
tion. Taken  from  a  Mannscript  of  the  late  Dr. 
Nathaniel  Williams  of  Boston  in  ]S".  E. 
Published  for  the  Common  Advantage,  more  es- 
pecially of  the  Country  Towns,  who  ma}'  be  visited 
with  that  Distemper." — (Boston,  1752.)  At  the 
end  it  contains  four  pages  with  the  heading  "  Small 
Pox  by  Inoculation,  in  1730."  Dr.  Williams  had 
a  large  practice,  and,  perhaps,  belongs  rather  to 
the  class  of  physicians. 

These  instances  are  enough  to  show  that  in 
former  times  the  ministers  took  an  active  interest 
in  medicine,  and  that  some  of  them  wrote  practical 
treatises  on  the  subject. 

In  the  Peverend  Thomas  Prince's  preface  to  the 
pamphlet  last  mentioned,  it  is  stated  that  Williams 
studied  with  "  the  Learned  Dr.  James  Oliver  of 
Cambridge;  one  of  the  most  esteemed  Physicians 
in  his  Day;  who  had  a  singular  Help  in  the  Art  of 
CJiymistry  by  the  ingenious  Dr.  Lodowich  a  Ger- 
man, who  was  also  accounted  an  excellent  Physi- 
cian, and  the  most  skilful  Chymist  that  ever 
came  into  these  Parts  of  America.''''  I  think 
that  Dr.  Lodowick  was  the  same  person  as 
Christian  Lodowick  who  wrote  a  letter  to 
Increase  Mather,  about  the  Quakers.  It  is 
dated  February  1,  1691-2,  and  was  subsequently 
printed. 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  63 

The  colony  unci  province  of  Massachusetts  suf- 
fered severely  from  the  scourge  of  small-pox,  and 
the  epidemics  of  it  were  periodical.     There  was 
no  weapon  to  fight  it,  and  when  once  started  the 
dreaded  disease  burned,  like  a  big  fire,  until  all  the 
material  for  contagion  was  used  up.    The  mortality 
from  it  was  large,  and  the  effect  disastrous;  and 
any  help  was  a  boon  to  the  community.      Under 
these  circumstances  the  introduction  of  inoculation 
for  small-pox  was  a  long  stride  in  advance,  though 
it  was  opposed  at  the  outset  in  part  on  religious 
grounds.     It  was  contended  by  some  that  an  epi- 
demic was  a  judgment  from  God  for  the  sins  of  a 
people,  and  any  attem})t  to  avert  it  was  an  inter- 
ference with  His  prei'ogative  and  would  provoke 
Him  the  more.     This  view  was  opposed  by  others ; 
and  Dr.  Zabdiel  Boylston,  who  was  to  be  a  promi- 
nent character  in  the  controversy,  wrote  at  the 
very  beginning  of  it   a  pamphlet  'giving  "  Some 
ACCOUNT  of  what  is  said  of  Inoculating  or 
Transplanting  the  Small  Pox.     By  the  Learned 
Dr.  Emanuel   Timonius,  and  Jacobus  Pylarinus 
with  some  Kemarks  thereon.     To  which  are  added 
A  Few  Quoiries  in  Answer  to  the  Scruj^les  of  many 
about  the  Lawfulness  of  this  Method'' — (Boston, 
1721.) 

The  Reverend  William  Cooper,  of  Boston,  wrote 
"A  Reply  to  the  Objections  made  against  taking 
the  Smcdl  Fox  in  the  Way  of  Inoculation  from 
Princijjles  of  Conscience.  In  a  Letter  to  a  Friend 
in  the  Country.''  I  have  been  unable  to  find  the 
first  edition  of  this  pamphlet,  but  the  third  was 


64  CENTENNIAL   ADDEESS. 

published  at  Boston,  in  the  year  1730.  The  pre- 
face, signed  by  W.  Cooper,  is  dated  March  4, 1729- 
30 ;  and  in  it  he  says  that  "  The  following  Letter 
was  wrote  and  pnblish'd  more  than  eight  Years 
agoe,  when  the  Town  was  in  great  Distress  by  the 
spreading  of  the  Small  Pox."  He  adds  also  that 
"  Soon  after  the  following  Letter  was  printed  here 
in  Boston,  it  was  reprinted  in  London,  together 
with  the  Reverend  Mr.  Colman's  Account  of  the 
Method  and  Success  of  this  Practice ;  to  Avhich  was 
prefix'd  an  historical  introduction  by  the  Keverend 
Mr.  ISTeal." 

The  introduction  of  variolous  inoculation  was  the 
most  important  event  in  the  medical  history  of  the 
province ;  and  in  promoting  it  the  ministers  took 
a  leading  part.  It  occurred  in  the  summer  of 
1721,  when  there  was  not  a  single  practitioner  of 
medicine  in  Boston,  with  the  exception  of  Dr. 
William  Douglass,  who  was  a  regularly  graduated 
physician.  Some  of  the  ministers  were  the  peers 
of  the  doctors  in  medical  knowledge,  though  with 
less  clinical  experience.  In  this  state  of  affairs,  it 
can  readily  be  understood  that  it  was  a  free  fight, 
whenever  there  was  a  medical  controversy.  Dr. 
Douglass,  the  leader  of  the  opponents  of  inocula- 
tion, was  a  Scotchman  who  came  to  Boston  in  the 
year  1718.  He  received  his  medical  education  in 
Paris  and  Leyden;  was  a  man  of  fine  intellectual 
parts  and  a  versatile  writer.  He  knew  astron- 
omy and  could  calculate  eclijDses;  he  had  a  taste 
for  natural  history,  and  was  withal  an  excel- 
lent botanist.     He  studied  his  medical  cases,  and 


CENTEKNIAL   ADDRESS.  G5 

took  careful  notes  by  the  Ijcdsicle.  "W^itli  a  large 
practice,  he  wrote  on  a  great  variety  of  subjects, 
and  it  is  not  strange  that  occasionally  he  was  in- 
exact in  his  statements.  It  was  wittily  said  of  him 
by  some  one  that  he  was  always  positive  and  some- 
times accurate.  He  had  little  tact,  and  it  is  not 
i^urprising  that  he  found  himself  continually  in  con- 
troversy. He  died  on  October  21,  1752,  having 
passed  his  whole  professional  life  in  Boston,  where 
he  had  much  influence  as  a  physician. 

The  credit  of  the  introduction  of  inoculation  into 
this  country  is  generally  given  to  Cotton  Mather, 
who  had  read  in  the  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions of  the  Royal  Society  at  London,  that  this 
method  was  used  in  Turkey  as  a  means  of  protec- 
tion against  small-pox.  During  a  long  time  the 
practice  had  been  kept  up  in  Constantinople,  where 
it  was  brought  from  Asia,  and  had  met  with  much 
success.  Dr.  Mather  was  impressed  with  the  im- 
jDortance  of  the  method,  and  tried  to  interest  the 
Boston  doctors  in  the  subject. 

With  one  exception,  however,  they  seemed  to 
be  either  indifterent  or  opposed  to  the  whole  matter. 
This  exception  was  Dr.  Zabdiel  Boylston,  who 
took  up  the  practice  of  it  amid  the  most  violent 
opposition  of  his  professional  brethren;  and  on 
the  26th  of  June,  1721,  he  inoculated  his  own  son, 
Thomas,  six  years  of  age,  his  negro  man,  Jack, 
of  thirty-six  years,  and  a  little  negro  boy,  of  two 
and  a  half  years.  They  all  had  the  disease  very 
lightly,  and  he  was  encouraged  to  try  the  experi- 
ment on  others.     In  his  judgment  the  safety  and 


G6  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

value  of  the  operation  Avere  soon  established;  but 
the  medical  profession  were  sceptical,  and  their 
opposition  strong  and  bitter.  With  Dr.  Douglass 
at  their  head  they  talked  against  it,  and  wrote 
against  it;  and  moreover  they  had  the  newspaper 
press  on  their  side.  Opposed  to  them  were  Dr. 
Boylston  and  the  ministers,  who  at  last  carried  the 
day.  At  one  time  the  public  feeling  was  so  ex- 
cited that  the  advocates  of  the  practice  were  not 
safe  even  in  their  own  houses.  The  town  was 
patrolled  by  the  rabble  with  halters  in  their  hands^ 
threatening  to  hang  Dr.  Boylston — if  they  could 
find  him — to  the  nearest  tree. 

An  attempt  was  made  early  in  the  morning  of 
]!!^ovember  14,  1721,  by  means  of  a  "Fired  Gra- 
nado  "  to  destroy  the  house  of  Cotton  Mather,  who 
had  at  the  time  a  kinsman  living  with  him,  and 
under  his  charge  for  inoculated  small-pox.  For- 
tunately the  fuse  was  shaken  out  of  the  shell,  and 
no  serious  damage  done.  A  full  account  of  the 
affair  is  given  in  "  The  Boston  JSTews-Letter," 
]!!^ovember  20,  1721,  which  says  that — 

"  When  the  Granado  was  taken  up,  there  was  found  a  paper 
so  tied  with  a  Thread  about  the  Fuse,  that  it  might  outlive  the 
breaking  of  the  Shell;  wherein  were  these  Words:  COTTON 
MATEER.     I  was  once  one  of  your  Meeting ;  But  the   Cursed 

Lye  you  told  of Tou  know  who  ;  made  me  leave  You, 

You  Dog,  And  Damn  You,  I  ivill  Enoculate  you  ivilh  this,  with 
a  Pox  to  you.'' 

Of  the  Boston  newspapers  "  The  ]S^ew  England 
Courant,"  edited  by  James  Franklin,  was  partic- 
ularly hostile  to  the  new  method.  The  editor  was 
an  elder  brother  of  Benjamin,  at  this  time  the  em- 
bryonic philosopher,   who   also   worked    on    the 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  67 

paper  both  as  a  compositor  and  writer.  Within  the 
period  of  one  3^car  Dr.  Boylston  inocuhited  247 
persons,  and  of  this  number  only  six  died;  and 
durino-  the  same  time  89  other  persons  in  the 
neighborhood  were  inoeuhited  by  two  other  phy- 
sicians, and  all  made  good  recoveries.  This  low 
rate  of  mortality,  as  compared  with  that  among 
l^ersons  who  had  taken  small-pox  in  the  natural 
way,  was  a  telling  argument  in  favor  of  inocuUition. 
The  ari'ay  of  these  statistics  carried  the  public  to 
the  side  of  Dr.  Boylston,  who  was  now  honored  to 
the  same  degree  that  he  had  previously  been  libelled 
by  a  fickle  populace.  He  was  invited  by  Sir  Hans 
Sloane,  the  Court  Physician,  to  visit  London, 
where  he  received  the  most  flattering  attentions 
from  the  scientists  of  England,  as  well  as  from 
the  reigning  family.  He  was  chosen  a  member  ot 
the  Koyal  Society,  and  read  a  paper  before  that 
learned  body,  on  the  subject  of  small-pox  inocu- 
lation in  Xew  England.  This  was  published  in 
London  in  the  year  1726,  and  dedicated  by  permis- 
sion to  the  Princess  of  Wales.  Li  this  pamphlet 
he  gives  a  minute  account  of  many  of  his  cases, 
telhng  the  names  of  his  patients  in  full,  besides 
stating  their  ages ;  and  in  the  preface  he  aj)ologizes 
for  the  liberty  he  has  taken  in  doing  so.  A  second 
edition  of  this  pamphlet  was  published  at  Boston, 
in  the  year  1730.  In  the  course  of  time  inoculation 
conquered  all  opposition,  and  finally  became  a  well 
established  fact  in  the  community.  Some  of  those 
who  had  bitterly  opposed  it  were  now  its  warmest 
friends.     JSTotably  among  them  was  Dr.  Benjamin 


68  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

Franklin;  and  in  the  small-pox  epidemic  of  1752, 
even  Dr.  William  Donglass  both  practised  inocu- 
lation and  spoke  of  it  as  a  "most  beneficial  Im- 
provement." In  writing  on  the  subject  he  expresses 
himself  "  at  a  loss  for  the  Reasons,  why  Inoculation 
hitherto  is  not  much  used  in  our  Mother  Country, 
Great  Britain;  considering  that  it  has  with  good 
Success  been  practised  in  our  Colonies  or  Planta- 
tions."^ During  three  quarters  of  a  century  the 
practice  was  continued,  until  it  was  superseded  by 
the  great  discovery  of  Jenner. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  introduction  here 
of  variolous  inoculation  was  hardly  two  months 
after  it  had  been  successfully  tried  in  England, 
though  Dr.  BoylstoTi  and  his  coadjutors  had  no 
knowledge  of  the  fact.  Small-pox  spread  with 
such  fury  and  fatality  during  the  summer  of  1721, 
that  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  passed  a  re- 
solve— applicable,  however,  only  to  the  town  of 
Boston — that  no  bell  should  be  tolled  for  the  burial 
of  persons  who  had  died  of  the  disease,  except 
such  as  the  selectmen  of  the  town  should  direct. 
And,  pursuant  to  this  resolve,  it  was  ordered  Sep- 
tember 21,  1721,  "  That  one  Bell  only  be  made  use 
of  for  a  Funeral  and  that  to  be  Tolled  but  Twice, 
each  Tolling  not  to  exceed  the  sj^ace  of  Six 
Minutes."  The  following  clause  also  was  added, 
as  a  snapper,  showing  that  the  race  prejudices  of 
a  century  and  a  half  ago  pursued  the  innocent  vic- 
tims even  after  life  had  left  the  body :  "  Further 
that  there  be  but  one  Tolling  of  a  Bell  for  the 

^  Douglass's  Summary,  ii.  412. 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  GO 

Burial  of  any  Indian,  Negro  or  Malatlo,  and 
that  they  Ijc  carried  tlie  nearest  way  to  their 
Graves." 

The  next  excitement  in  the  medical  history  of 
Massachusetts  was  an  epidemic  that  raged  in 
Boston  and  its  neighborhood,  and  excited  great 
consternation.  This  was  described  at  the  time  by 
Dr.  Douglass,  a  close  observer  in  such  cases,  who 
wrote  a  good  account  of  it.  The  title  of  this 
pamphlet,  which  has  already  been  mentioned  in 
page  8,  is:  "The  Practical  HISTOKY  of  A 
I^ew  Epidemical  Eruptive  Miliary  Fever,  with  an 
Angina  Ulcusculosa  which  Prevailed  in  Boston 
JSTew  England  in  the  Years  1735  and  1736." — 
(Boston,  1736.)  The  diagnosis  was  rather  ob- 
scure, and  the  disease  baffled  the  skill  of  the 
physicians.  "It  was  vulgarly  called  the  Throat 
Illness,  or  a  Plague  in  the  Throat,  and  alarmed 
the  Provinces  of  il^ew-England  very  much."  Dr. 
Thacher,  in  his  account  of  Douglass  in  the 
"American  Medical  Biography,"  calls  the  disease 
by  the  name  of  angina  maligna,  which  is 
a  generic  term  and  includes  any  inflammatory 
affection  of  the  throat  or  fauces,  such  as  quinsy, 
malignant  sore-throat,  croup,  or  mumps.  It 
has  been  considered  also  to  be  scarlatina;  but 
the  description  leaves  little  doubt  in  my  mind 
that  the  diagnosis  at  the  present  time  would  be 
diphtheria.  Dr.  Douglass's  essay  was  republished 
in  "  The  Xew-England  Journal  of  Medicine  and 
Surgeiy"  (Boston,  1825),  Avith  an  editorial  note 
that  "it  has  been  pronounced  by  competent  judges 

10 


70  CENTEKN^IAL   ADDRESS. 

one  of  the  best  works  extant  upon  the  subject  of 
which  it  treats"  (XIY.  1-13). 

The  disease  was  so  mahgnant  and  the  pubhc  so 
much  alarmed,  that  the  town  of  Boston,  in  its  cor- 
porate capacity,  took  action  in  the  matter;  and  the 
following  circular  in  "  The  Boston  Weekly  ^NTews- 
Letter,"  April  29,  1736,  will  explain  itself: — 

THE  Select-Men  of  the  Town  of  Boston,  in  order  to  inform 
the  Trading  Part  of  our  neighbouring  Colonies,  concerning  the 
State  of  the  iiresent prevailijig  Distemper  in  this  Place,  did  desire 
a  Meeting  of  as  many  of  the  Practitioners  in  Physick  as  could 
then  be  conveniently  obtain'd.  The  Practitioners  being  accord- 
ingly met,  did  unanimously  agree  to  the  following  Articles ; 

1.  THAT  upon  the  first  appearance  of  this  Illness  in  Boston 
the  Select-Men  did  advise  with  the  Practitioners ;  but  they  at 
that  Time  having  not  had  Opportunities  of  observing  the  Progress 
of  the  Distemper,  it  was  thought  advisable  (until  further  Experi- 
ence) to  shut  up  that  Person  who  was  supposed  to  have  received 
it  in  Exeter  to  the  Eastward ;  upon  his  Death  the  Watch  was  soon 
removed,  but  no  Infection  was  observed  to  spread  or  catch  in  that 
Quarter  of  the  Town ;  therefore  no  Watches  were  appointed  in  the 
other  Parts  of  the  Town  where  it  afterwards  appeared,  the  Practi- 
tioners judging  it  to  proceed  from  some  occult  Quality  in  the  Air, 
and  not  from  any  observable  Infection  communicated  hy  Persons 
or  Goods. 

2.  THE  Practitioners  and  their  Families  have  not  been  seized 
with  this  Distemper  in  a  more  remarkable  manner  (and  as  it  has 
happened  not  so  much)  than  other  Families  in  Town,  even  than 
those  Families  who  live  in  solitary  Parts  thereof. 

3.  AS  to  the  Mortality  or  Malignity  of  this  Distemper,  all  whom 
it  may  concern  are  referred  to  the  Boston  Weekly-Journal  of 
Burials :  by  the  Burials  it  is  notorious,  that  scarce  any  Distemper, 
even  the  most  favourable  which  has  at  any  Time  prevail'd  so 
generally,  has  produc'd  fewer  Deaths. 

4.  AS  formerly,  so  now  again  after  many  Months  Observation, 
we  conclude,  That  the  present  prevailing  Distemper  appears  to  us  to 
proceed  from  some  Affection  of  the  Air,  and  not  from  any  personal 
Infection  receiv'dfrom  the  Sick,  or  Goods  in  their  neighbourhood. 

Nathaniel  Williams 
William  Douglass 
John  Cutler 
Hugh  Kennedy 
William  Davis 
Thomas  Bulfinch. 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  71 

N^athanicl  Williams,  whose  name  heads  the  sig- 
natures, was  an  active  and  useful  man  in  his  day 
and  generation.  In  the  affairs  of  life  he  performed 
the  triple  role  of  preacher,  doctor,  and  school- 
master. The  union  of  these  three  characters  was 
no  infrequent  occurrence  in  former  times.  In  each 
he  appears  to  have  played  well  his  part  ;  and  his 
career  entitles  him  to  more  than  a  passing  notice. 
He  was  the  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Mary  (Oliver) 
Williams,  and  was  born  in  Boston,  August  2.3, 
1675.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  the 
class  of  1693,  and  in  the  summer  of  1698  was  or- 
dained,— according  to  the  sermon  preached  at  his 
funeral  by  Thomas  Prince, — "  an  Evangelist  in  the 
College-Hall,  for  one  of  the  West  India  Islands. 
But  the  climate  not  agreeing  with  his  Constitution, 
He  soon  returned  to  this  his  native  Cityr  At  one 
time  he  was  engaged  in  giving  private  instruction 
to  boys,  and  he  had  the  reputation  of  being  an  ex- 
cellent classical  scholar.  In  the  year  1703  he  was 
appointed  usher  at  the  Free  Grammar  School,  now 
known  as  the  Boston  Latin  School;  and  subse- 
quently, in  1708,  he  was  chosen  to  the  master- 
ship, which  position  he  held  until  1734.  He 
studied  ■'  Cliymistry  and  Pliysich,  under  his  Uncle 
the  Learned  Dr.  James  Oliver  of  Camhridge;  one 
of  the  most  esteemed  Physicians  in  his  Day;"  and 
even  while  teaching  continued  to  practise  his  pro- 
fession of  medicine.  He  died  January  10,  1737- 
38;  and  "The  Boston  Weekly  :N'ews-Letter "  of 
January  12  calls  him  "  the  Reverend  and  Learned 
Mr.  JSathaniel  WilliamSy''  and  speaks  of  him  " as 


72  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

a  very  skilful  and  successful  Physician;  "  and  says 
that  "  as  his  Life  has  been  very  extensively  ser- 
viceable, so  his  Death  is  esteemed  as  a  public 
Loss."  A  posthumous  pamphlet  by  him  has  been 
previously  mentioned  in  page  62  of  this  Address. 

The  career  of  Dr.  William  Douglass  has  been 
already  noted. 

John  Cutler  was  the  son  of  John  Cutler,  and 
born  August  6,  1676,  at  Hingham.  The  father 
was  a  "  chirurgeon,"  and  served  in  King  Philip's 
"War.  He  came  originally  from  Holland,  where 
his  name  was  written  Demesmaker.  On  coming 
to  this  country  he  adopted  the  English  translation 
of  his  Dutch  patronymic,  and  called  himself  Cut- 
ler; and  ever  afterward  the  family  was  so  desig- 
nated. His  marriage  is  thus  given  in  the  town- 
records  of  Hingham: — 

"  Johannes  Demesmaker,  a  Dutchman  (who  say  his  name  in 
English  is  John  Cutler)  and  Mary  Cowell  the  daughter  of  Edward 
Cowell  of  Boston  were  marryed  by  Captaine  Joshua  Hobart  on 
the  fourth  day  of  January  1674." 

The  births  of  seven  children  are  also  recorded 
in  the  same  records.  I  give  the  entries  of  the  two 
oldest  and  the  two  youngest  of  these  children,  as 
they  show  hoAV  the  distinction  between  the  names 
was  made  at  the  outset,  and  that  it  was  dropped 
in  the  course  of  time.  The  oldest  child  was  John, 
who  became  the  physician  and  signed  the  circular 
relating  to  the  epidemic. 

"  Johannes  Demesmaker,  whose  name  in  English  is  John  Cutler, 
the  son  of  Johannes  Demesmaker  a  Dutchman  and  of  Mary  his 
wife  was  born  on  the  sixt  day  of  August  1676." 

"Peter  Demesmaker  (the  son  of  Johannes  Demesmaker  a 
Dutchman  &  of  Mary  his  wife  an  English  woman)  was  born  on 
the  seventh  day  of  July  1679." 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  73 

"  David  C'utK;r,  y"  son  of  DucLor  -loliu  CiiLlur  &  of  Mary  his 
wife  was  born  the  first  of  November  108!)." 

"  Ruth  Cutler  the  daughter  of  Doctor  John  Cutler  &  of  INIary 
liis  wife  was  born  y"  '21th  of  February  IGO^." 

The  father  removed  to  Boston  about  the  year 
1(594,  and  hved  in  Marlborough  Street,  now  a  i)art 
of  Washington  kStreet,  near  the  Old  South  Meeting- 
house. He  had  a  large  jjraetice,  and  was  the  pre- 
ceptor of  Dr.  Zabdiel  Boylston,  who  afterward 
became  famous  during  the  time  of  the  smaU-pox 
inoculation.  He  died  probably  in  the  winter  of 
1717,  and  his  son,  John,  Jr.,  inherited  his  practice 
as  well  as  the  homestead.  The  son  mari-ied  the 
widow,  Mrs.  Joanna  (Dodd)  Richards;  and  he 
was  actively  connected  with  the  King's  Chapel,  of 
which  church  he  was  a  warden.  lie  died  September 
23,  1761,  having  lived  a  long  life  of  usefulness. 

It  requires  no  great  stretch  of  the  imagination 
to  suppose  that  Hugh  Kennedy,  the  fourth  signer 
of  the  circular,  was  a  Scotchman. 

Of  William  Davis,  the  next  signer,  I  can  learn 
almost  nothing.  He  died  probably  in  the  winter 
of  174:6,  as  the  bond  given  by  the  administratrix 
of  the  estate  was  dated  March  28,  1746.  An  in- 
ventory of  his  property  contained  among  the  items 
"Druggs  [£]  284:  4:  4;"  "  Chirurgical  lustrum'^ 
of  all  Sorts  120;"  "3  Glass  Cases  of  Veins  & 
Anat:  50."  This  appraisal  was  made  according  to 
the  paper  money  of  'New  England,  Avhich  at  that 
time  was  much  depreciated;  and  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  calculate  the  <:»'old  value. 

Thomas  Bulfinch,  the  last  signer,  was  the  son  of 
Adino  Bulfinch,  a  merchant  of  Boston,  who  came 


74  cente]n:nial  address. 

to  this  coimtiy  from  England  about  the  year  1680. 
The  son  was  born  in  1694,  and  began  the  study  of 
his  profession  with  Dr.  Zabdiel  Boylston  as  his 
preceptor.  He  afterward  went  to  London  and 
received  instruction  in  anatomy  and  surgery  under 
the  famous  Cheselden,  and  subsequently  to  Paris, 
where  he  completed  his  professional  education. 
On  his  return  to  Boston  he  married  a  daughter  of 
John  Colman,  at  that  time  a  prominent  merchant; 
he  soon  acquired  the  reputation  of  an  excellent 
physician,  and  enjoyed  a  very  large  practice.  He 
died  December  2,  1757,  leaving  a  son,  Thomas, 
Jr.,  who  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father  as 
a  successful  practitioner. 

The  first  inoculatmg  hospitals  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Boston — one  at  Point  Shh'ley  and  the 
other  at  Castle  William,  now  Fort  Independence 
— were  opened  in  the  winter  of  1764,  durhig  an 
epidemic  of  small-pox.  The  Point  Shirley  hospital 
was  established  by  the  Governor  of  the  Province, 
with  the  advice  of  the  Council,  and  placed  under 
the  charge  of  several  ph^^sicians.  A  notice  in 
"  The  Boston  Post-Boy  &  Advertiser,"  March  19, 
1764,  sets  forth  that — 

"  Those  Physicians  of  the  Town  of  Boston  who  are  engaged  in 
carrying  on  the  inocuhiting  Hospital  at  Point- Shir lexj,  being  pre- 
vented giving  their  constant  Attendance  there  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  Small-Pox  in  Town,  hereby  notify  the  Public,  that 
they  are  join'd  by  Doctor  Barnett  of  New-Jersey,  who  will  con- 
stantly attend  at  said  Hosj^ital  with  one  or  other  of  said  Physicians 
whose  Business  will  permit,  and  employ  the  utmost  Diligence  and 
Attention  for  the  relief  of  those  that  put  themselves  under  their 
care.  They  further  notify,  that  Point-Shirley  contains  as  many 
comfortable  and  decent  Houses  as  will  be  suflficient  to  accommo- 
date as  many  Persons  as  will  probably  ever  offer  for  Inoculation 
at  one  Time,  from  this  or  the  neighbouring  Governments    and 


i 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  75 

is  well  furnished  with  every  requisite  Convenience  both  for  Sick- 
ness and  Health." 

Dr.  William  Barnett  lived  at  Elizabethtown, 
New  Jersey,  and  had  acquired  considerable  rej^u- 
tation  in  Philadelphia  as  a  promoter  of  variolous 
inoculation. 

The  Castle  "William  hospital  was  opened — to 
quote  from  ^'  The  Boston  Post-Boy  &  Advertiser," 
February  27,  1764r— 

"  In  order  to  inlarge  the  Conveniences  for  Inoculation  in  ad- 
dition to  those  already  proposed  at  Point- Shir Itty,  that  every 
Person  desirous  of  undergoing  that  Operation  may  have  an  Op- 
portunity of  doing  it,  without  endangering  the  Spreading  the 
Distem|)er,  and  that  this  Town  may  be,  as  soon  as  possible,  freed 
from  the  apprehension  of  the  Small-Pox;  the  Governor  has  con- 
sented that  the  Barracks  of  Castle- Willi  am  shall  be  improved  for 
the  Purpose  of  Inoculation,  from  this  Time  into  the  Middle  of 
May  next.  And  the  said  Barrack  are  now  opened  to  ALL 
PHYSICIANS  having  Patients  to  Inoculate,  under  such  Rules 
as  shall  be  thought  proper  to  be  made  for  that  purpose. 

"  There  are  in  the  Barracks  48  Rooms,  each  of  which  will  con- 
tain ten  Patients  conveniently." 

The  following  advertisement  in  the  same  news- 
paper, of  March  5,  1764,  furnishes  the  principal 
details  of  its  administration: — 

DR.  SAMUEL  GELSTON 

Gives  this  Publick  Notice  to  his  Patients  in  Boston  and  the  ad- 
jacent Towns,  that  he  has  prepared  (by  Permission  of  his  Excel- 
lency the  Governor)  all  comfortable  Accommodations  for  them 
at  the  Barracks  at  Castle-  William,  in  order  to  their  being  inocu- 
lated for  the  wSmall-Pox  under  his  immediate  Care. 

N.  B.  His  Rooms  are  in  that  Part  of  the  Barracks  where  the 
Patients  of  Dr.  Nathaniel  Perkins,  Dr.  Whitworth  and  Dr. 
Lloyd's  are  received. 

I^'  Dr.  Gelston  and  Dr.  Warren  reside  at  Gas  fie- William 
Day  and  Night. 

ALL  Persons  inclined  to  go  to  the  Barracks  at  Castle-William 
to  be  inoculated  where  Dr.  Gelstox  resides,  may  apply  to  Dr. 
Lloyd  at  his  House  near  the  King's  Chapel,  who  will  provide 
them  a  Passage  to  the  Castle. 


76  CEK"TEira"IAIi   ADDRESS. 

Dr.  Gelston  was  a  physician  of  l^^antucket,  and 
had  previously  managed  a  small-pox  hospital  at 
Martha's  Vineyard,  where  he  had  successfully 
inoculated  eighty-one  persons.  There  were  at  this 
time  several  private  establishments  in  the  town 
at  which  inoculation  was  carried  on. 

It  is  said  that  many  came  to  Boston  from  all 
parts  of  the  Province,  and  from  other  colonies,  to 
be  treated  in  these  hospitals.  During  a  period  of 
five  weeks  after  they  were  first  opened,  it  is  esti- 
mated that  more  than  3,000  persons  received  the 
disease;  and  not  a  fatal  case  among  them.  "The 
Boston  Post-Boy  &  Advertiser,"  April  16,  1764, 
is  m}^  authority  for  the  statement. 

It  was  during  this  epidemic  that  the  library  of 
Harvard  College  was  burned  on  the  night  of  Jan- 
uary 21, 1764.  The  fire  occurred  in  vacation  time, 
and  while  the  building  was  used  by  the  General 
Court,  which  was  then  sitting  temporarily  in  Cam- 
bridge, on  account  of  the  small-pox  in  Boston. 
Among  the  losses  a  contemporaneous  account 
mentions — 

"  A  collection  of  the  most  approved  medical  Authors,  chiefly 
presented  by  Mr.  James,  of  the  island  of  Jamaica ;  to  which  Dr. 
Mead  and  other  Gentlemen  have  made  very  considerable  additions : 
Also  anatomical  cutts  and  two  compleat  skeletons  of  different 
sexes.  This  Collection  would  have  been  very  serviceable  to  a 
Professor  of  Physic  and  Anatomy,  when  the  revenues  of  the 
College  should  have  been  sufficient  to  subsist  a  gentleman  in  this 
character." — ("  The  Boston  Post-Boy  &  Advertiser,"  January  30, 
1764.) 

The  allusion  contained  in  the  last  paragraph 
seems  to  indicate  that  the  question  of  a  medical 
professorship  in  the   college  had   been  broached 


CENTENNIAL   ADDKESS.  77 

before  this  time.  Even  in  the  earliest  days  of  the 
institution  a  certain  amount  oi"  instruction  had  been 
given  in  medicine.  Small  though  it  was,  it  is  not 
for  us  to  despise  its  influence.  Johnson,  in  his 
" Wonder- AYorking  Providence"  (London,  1654), 
—  written  about  the  year  1650,  —  describes  the 
College  at  a  period  near  that  time,  and  says  that 
"  some  help  hath  been  had  from  hence  in  the  study 
of  Physick." — (Page  165.)  It  is  very  likely  that 
Cambridge  was  the  place  where  Giles  Firmin 
taught  anatomy,  as  mentioned  in  page  31  of  this 
Address. 

An  inoculating  hospital  was  opened  on  Cat 
Island,  near  Marblehead,  about  the  middle  of 
October,  1773.  It  was  known  as  the  Essex  Hos- 
pital, and  had  accommodations  for  eighty  patients. 
It  was  a  private  affair,  owned  by  proprietors, 
though  it  was  "  approved  by  the  Gentlemen  Select- 
Men  of  Salem  and  Marblehead."  An  excellent 
code  of  regulations,  which  were  to  govern  it,  is 
found  in  "  The  Essex  Gazette,"  October  5,  1773. 
It  was  not  destined  to  last  long,  however,  as  it  was 
burned  by  some  ruffians  on  the  night  of  January 
26, 1774.  There  had  been  a  strong  feeling  against 
the  hospital  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants;  and  a 
few  days  before  the  burning,  four  men  suspected 
of  carrying  the  infection  were  tarred  and  feathered, 
and  drummed  out  of  town.  It  was  estimated  that 
there  were  one  thousand  persons  in  the  procession 
escorting  the  victims.  The  mob  marched  to  Salem, 
four  miles  distant,  and  then  paraded  through  the 

11 


78  CENTENNIAL    ADDRESS. 

principal  streets  of  this  town.    A  Salem  newspaper 
of  that  time  heartlessly  remarks  that — 

"the  exquisitely  droll  and  grotesque  appearance  of  the  four 
tarred  and  feathered  Objects  of  Derision,  exhibited  a  very  laugh- 
able and  truly  comic  Scene." 

Two  of  the  ringleaders  of  the  mob  which  de- 
stroyed the  hospital  were  arrested  on  February  25, 
and  confined  in  the  jail  at  Salem,  whence  they 
were  rescued  by  another  mob,  and  taken  back  to 
Marblehead.  The  j)opular  feeling  was  with  the 
rioters,  and  it  was  found  impossible  to  bring  the 
ruffians  to  justice;  and  so  the  matter  ended. 

As  early  as  March,  1761,  Dr.  Sylvester  Gardiner 
had  made  a  proposition  to  the  town  of  Boston 
to  build  at  his  own  cost  an  inoculating  hospital  on 
a  piece  of  land,  northward  from  the  building 
which  he  had  previously  put  up  during  the  French 
war,  for  sick  and  wounded  sailors;  but  it  does 
not  appear  that  the  offer  was  accepted.  In  the 
account,  as  printed  in  the  "  Proceedings  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,"  for  June,  1859, 
it  is  stated  that — 

"  No  person  in  town  is  to  pay  more  than  four  dollars  for  inoc- 
ulation, medicines,  and  attendance,  and  three  dollars  per  week  for 
diet,  nursing,  and  lodging,  during  his  or  her  illness." 

It  was  during  the  Revolution  that  dentistry,  a 
kindred  art  to  medicine,  began  to  be  practised.  It 
sprang  from  a  humble  beginning,  but  it  has  grown 
to  large  proportions.  AVith  its  advanced  schools, 
as  a  twin  sister  of  the  medical  profession  it  chal- 
lenges our  attention  and  respect.  Some  of  its 
teachers,  by  their  thorough  work  and  patient  in- 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  79 

vestigations,  have  written  their  names  on  the  roll 
of  science,  and  placed  the  present  generation  un- 
der lasting  obligations.  Many  of  its  number  are 
graduates  of  medicine;  and  I  have  not  forgotten 
the  fact  that  two  of  the  principal  founders,  as  well 
as  professors,  of  the  Harvard  Dental  School,  Dr. 
Nathan  Cooley  Keep  and  Dr.  Thomas  Barnes 
Hitchcock,  who  are  now  no  longer  living,  received 
their  professional  degrees  at  the  Harvard  Medical 
School,  and  both  were  members  of  this  distin- 
guished Society. 

The  following  advertisements,  taken  from  two 
Boston  newspapers,  printed  a  century  ago,  will 
give  an  insight  of  dentistry  at  that  time: — 

Gentlemen  and  Ladies  that  may  want  Artificial  Teeth,  may 
have  them  made  and  fixed  in  the  neatest  manner,  without  the 
least  pain  by  ISAAC  GREENWOOD,  Ivory-Turner,  at  his 
house  in  the  Main  Street,  between  the  Old  South  and  Seven-Star 
Lane,  at  the  South-End  of  Boston  ;  they  help  the  Speech  as  be- 
coming as  the  natural  ones. 

^§'  Ladies,  wax  rots  your  Teeth  and  Gums,  throw  it  aivay. 
Gome  and  have  your  Teeth  cleansed,  and  if  done  in  time,  saves 
them,  from,  rotting  and  parting  from  the  Gums. 

N.  B.  Said  GREENWOOD  continues  to  make  Artificial  Leggs 
and  Hands:  Turns  in  Ivory,  Bone,  Silver  and  Wood:  Makes 
Fifes,  German-Flutes,  Hautboys,  &c.  &c. 


Ladies  please  to  send  your  Umhrilloes  to  he  mended  and 
covered — ("The  Continental  Journal  and  Weekly  Advertiser," 
April  20,  1780.) 

Isaac  Greenwood  was  the  father  of  John  Green- 
wood, a  dentist  of  repute  in  ^NTew  York  who  made 
a  set  of  teeth  for  General  Washington  about  the 
time  Stuart  painted  his  portrait.  In  many  of  the 
engravings  of  Washington  it  is  common  to  see  a 
fulness  about  the   mouth,   which   is   due   to   the 


80  CENTENNIAI.   ADDRESS. 

artificial  set.  At  that  period,  false  teeth  were  kept 
in  position  either  by  springs  or  clasps;  and  the 
principle  of  holding  them  in  place  by  atmospheric 
pressure  was  not  understood. 

MR.   TEMPLEMAN, 

Surgeon  Dentist, 

Incouraged  by  the  success  of  his  practice  in  different  parts  of 
Europe  and  America,  begs  leave  to  acquaint  the  public,  That  he  is 
furnished  with  materials  with  which,  and  a  dexterity  peculiar  to 
the  art, 

He  preserves  the  Teeth, 

Cures  the  scurvy  in  the  Gums, 

Extracts  and  transplants  Teeth, 

Scales  Teeth, 

Substitutes  artificial  Teeth, 

Gives  the  Teeth  proper  vacancies, 

Regulates  childrens  Teeth, 

And  plumbs  concave  Teeth, 

which  prevents  their  colluting  or  being  offensive,  besides  many 
other  operations  too  tedious  to  mention,  as  without  the  least  pain 
(except  that  of  extracting)  since  scaling  the  .Teeth  is  carefully  to 
take  from  them  an  infectious  tartar  which  destroys  the  animal 
[enamel?],  eats  the  gums,  renders  them  spungy  ulcerated,  and 
incapable  of  affording  any  support.  Its  being  removed,  which  is 
not  in  the  jiower  of  composition  to  effect,  renders  the  gums  firm, 
and  leaves  the  teeth  in  their  natural  purity.  Many  people  blame 
the  climate,  &c.  for  the  loss  of  Teeth, — But  it  is  too  often  the  case, 
as  I've  observ'd  in  the  course  of  my  practice  on  the  Continent, 
that  but  few  people  take  care  of  their  Teeth,  till  they  become  de- 
fective. The  Europeans  are  remarkable  (particularly  the  French) 
for  their  good  and  beautiful  Teeth,  owing  to  their  own  care,  and 
knowledge  of  the  art. 

N.  B.  Mr.  TEMPLEMAN  will,  with  pleasure,  attend  those 
Ladies  or  Gentlemen  who  cannot  conveniently  wait  on  him  at 
Mrs.  Frazier'a,  near  the  Town-House,  Boston. — ("  The  Boston 
Gazette  and  The  Country  Journal,"  October  8,  1781.) 

During  the  generation  immediately  preceding 
the  Kevolution,  the  science  of  medicine  in  Massa- 
chusetts was  making  progress  by  slow  but  steady 
steps.     The  bond  of  union  with  the  clerical  pro- 


CENTEimiAL   ADDRESS.  81 

fession,  existing  fi-om  the  earliest  days  of  colonial 
life,  had  been  cut;  and  there  was  no  longer  any 
practical  connection  between  the  two  callings. 
Medicine  had  passed  through  the  creeping  stage, 
and  was  now  beginning  to  walk  alone.  It  was  a 
long  stride  in  advance  when  men  began  to  turn 
their  studies  in  one  direction,  and  to  make  a  special- 
ty of  general  practice.  The  opportunities,  how- 
ever, were  few  for  the  successful  prosecution  of  this 
object.  There  were  neither  medical  schools  nor 
hospitals ;  and  the  young  men  were  obliged  to  pur- 
sue their  studies  under  the  guidance  of  joractising 
physicians.  Frequently  they  w^ere  bound  out,  like 
apprentices,  to  their  instructors,  and  were  com- 
pelled to  do  all  sorts  of  chores  around  the  house 
and  barn,  as  well  as  the  professional  drudgery. 
In  those  days  the  physicians  used  to  buy  their  own 
drugs  and  prepare  their  o^vn  medicines ;  and  it  was 
the  province  of  the  students  to  pound  the  bark 
and  spread  the  plasters,  as  well  as  to  mix  the  oint- 
ments and  make  the  pills.  In  short  they  were  to 
be  useful  to  their  employers,  as  best  they  might 
in  any  way,  whether  in  bleeding  patients,  pulling 
teeth,  or  attending  to  other  cases  of  minor  sur- 
gery. Sometimes  they  boarded  with  their  masters, 
being  inmates  of  their  families;  and  occasionally 
they  formed  alliances  and  attachments  Avhich  lasted 
beyond  the  period  of  their  studies.  Instances 
might  be  given  where  the  instructor  watched  the 
development  of  a  fledgling  doctor  with  all  the  in- 
terest of  a  father-in-law.  It  was  customary  for 
physicians  in  their  daily  rounds  of  practice  to  be 


82  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

accompanied  by  their  scholars,  in  order  to  show 
them  the  different  forms  of  disease,  and  to  teach 
them  the  rules  of  diagnosis.  On  their  return  home 
the  young  men  would  sometimes  undergo  a  form 
of  questioning,  which  was  considered  an  examina- 
tion. In  this  way,  with  a  certain  amount  of  med- 
ical reading,  the  main  supply  of  doctors  was  kept 
up.  The  few  exceptions  were  persons  who  went 
abroad  to  study,  where  of  course  they  had  the 
best  opportunities  that  science  could  then  give. 
On  coming  back  to  their  native  land,  such  students 
brought  with  them  the  freshest  ideas  and  the 
latest  expression  of  medicine,  which  they  were 
not  slow  to  impart  to  others.  Aside  from  these 
advantages  they  returned  with  a  diploma  and  had 
the  right  to  afl&x  M.D.  to  their  names,  an  honor 
beyond  the  reach  of  those  who  had  remained  at 
home. 

Among  the  physicians  of  this  period  who  had 
not  the  benefit  of  a  foreign  education,  but  who  ac- 
quired a  high  professional  skill  and  a  wide  local 
reputation, — and  who  withal  were  early  members 
of  this  Society, — may  be  mentioned: — 

Samuel  Adams,  of  Boston;  Israel  Atherton,  of 
Lancaster;  Joshua  Barker,  of  Hingham;  Timothy 
Childs,  of  Pittsfield;  John  Cuming,  of  Concord; 
John  Flagg,  of  Lynn;  ISTathaniel  Freeman,  of 
Sandwich;  Lemuel  Hay  ward,  of  Boston;  Samuel 
Holten,  of  Danvers;  Ebenezer  Hunt,  of  North- 
ampton; Thomas  Kittredge,  of  Andover;  Oliver 
Prescott,  of  Groton;  JSTathaniel  Saltonstall,  of 
Haverhill;      Micajah   Sawyer,  of    ISTewburyport; 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  83 

Marshall  Spring,  of  AVatertown;  John  Barnard 
Swett,  of  Marblehead;  the  brothei-s  Simon  and 
Cotton  Tufts,  of  Medford,  and  Weymouth,  re- 
spectively. 

These  were  all  marked  men  in  their  day  and 
generation.  They  were  in  active  practice  one  hun- 
dred years  ago,  and  at  that  time  were  sustaining 
a  part  in  the  daily  affairs  of  New  England  life, 
which  was  not  surpassed  in  responsil)ility  and 
usefulness  by  that  of  the  same  number  of  persons 
in  any  walk  or  profession.  They  were  in  every 
sense  of  the  word  general  practitioners,  as  spe- 
cialties in  medicine  were  then  unknown.  Most  of 
them  lived  at  some  distance  from  other  physicians, 
and  in  cases  of  emergency  they  wei'e  obliged  to 
rely  on  themselves  alone.  This  experience  made 
them  symmetrical  men;  they  were  developed  in 
all  branches  of  medicine  and  on  all  sides  of  prac- 
tical questions,  as  far  as  science  had  then  gone. 

The  physicians  of  this  period  who  had  studied 
their  profession  in  Europe  were  few  in  number. 
]N^otably  among  them  were  Charles  Jarvis,  John 
Jeffries,  and  James  Lloyd,  all  of  Boston,  and  mem- 
bers of  this  Society.  Jarvis  was  a  Boston  Latin 
School  boy,  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in  the 
class  of  1766.  After  finishing  his  medical  studies 
in  Boston,  he  went  to  England,  and  took  pi-actical 
courses  in  medicine  and  surgery.  On  his  return 
he  established  himself  in  Boston,  where  he  enjoyed 
a  large  and  successful  practice.  Dr.  Jarvis  gave 
but  little  medicine,  and  to-day  would  be  considered 
a  good  representative  of  the  "  expectant  school " 


84  CENTEira^IAL   ADDRESS. 

of  the  profession.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in 
public  affairs,  and  was  a  "  Jeffersonian "  in  politics. 
He  died  November  15,  1807,  aged  fifty-nine  years. 

John  Jeffries  was  the  son  of  David  Jeffi'ies,  for 
thirty-one  j^ears  the  town  treasurer  of  Boston. 
The  son  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  the  year 
1759,  with  the  highest  honors  of  his  class,  and  be- 
gan at  once  his  medical  studies  under  Dr.  Lloyd. 
Subsequently  he  studied  in  England,  and  took  his 
degree  of  M.D.  at  the  University  of  Aberdeen  in 
Scotland.  During  the  Kevolution  he  served  on  the 
British  side,  and  it  was  not  until  the  year  1790  that 
he  returned  to  his  native  town  to  practise  his  pro- 
fession. He  died  September  16,  1819,  deeply 
lamented  by  his  friends. 

James  Lloyd  was  a  native  of  Oyster  Bay,  Long 
Island,  where  he  was  born  March  14,  1728.  He 
began  his  professional  studies  in  Boston,  under 
the  guidance  of  Dr.  William  Clark,  with  whom  he 
remained  nearly  five  years.  At  the  end  of  this 
time  he  went  to  England,  where  he  enjoyed  the 
most  favorable  opportunities  of  seeing  the  practice 
of  the  best  physicians  and  surgeons  of  that  time. 
He  came  back  to  Boston  in  the  year  1752,  and  at 
once  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  chosen  pro- 
fession, in  which  he  soon  became  eminent.  He 
has  the  name  of  being  the  first  educated  obstet- 
rician in  the  countr}^,  as  well  as  the  credit  of  in- 
troducing the  practice  of  amputation  by  the  flap 
operation,  or  double  incision,  as  it  was  then  called. 
Dr.  Lloyd  was  a  man  of  many  accomplishments, 
and  during  the  last  half  of  the  last  century  the 


CENTENTJ^IAL   ADDRESS.  85 

prominent  figure  oCthe  profession.    He  died  Mareli 
14:,  1810,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-two  years. 

Dr.  Lloyd  had  studied  midwifery  under  the  dis- 
tinguished Smellie,  of  London;  and  after  his  return 
home  he  was  considered  throughout  the  province 
the  best  authority  in  this  branch  of  medicine. 
Before  this  period  midwifery  had  been  practised 
almost  exclusively  by  women,  and  physicians  were 
summoned  only  in  difficult  cases.  At  the  time  of 
the  incorporation  of  this  Society,  the  practice  of 
obstetrics  among  physicians  had  become  quite 
general  in  the  larger  towns  of  the  State. 

The  following  advertisement,  in  "  The  Boston 
Evening  Post  and  The  General  Advertiser,"  No- 
vember 10, 1781,  announces  that  after  that  date  the 
terms  of  the  Boston  doctors  would  be — to  use  a 
current  expression  of  the  shop — cash  on  delivery : — 

THE  PHYSICIANS 

of  the  Town  of  BOSTON, 

HEREBY  inform  the  Public,  that,  in  Consideration  of  the  great 
Fatigue  and  inevitable  Injury  to  the  Constitution,  in  the 
Practice  of  MIDWIFERY,  as  well  as  the  necessary  Interruption 
of  the  other  Branches  of  their  Profession,  they  shall,  for  the  future, 
expect,  that  in  Calls  of  this  Kind,  the  FEE  be  immediately  dis- 
charged. 

BOSTON,  Nov.  6,  1781. 

A  work  on  Obstetrics — probably  the  first  one 
printed  in  the  country — was  published  at  Boston 
in  the  year  1786.  It  w\as  profusely  illustrated  with 
engravings ;  and  the  title-page  reads  as  follows : — 

"  An  Abridgement  of  the  Practice  of  Midwifery :  and  a  set  of 

Anatomical  Tables  with  explanations.    Collected  from  the  Works 

of  the  Celebrated  W.  Smellie,  M.D.     A  new  Edition.      Boston : 

Printed  &  sold  by  J.  Norman  at  his  office  near  the  Boston-Stone." 

12 


86  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 


n. 

Thus  far  in  these  pages  I  have  tried  to  sketch 
the  rise  and  progress  of  medicine  in  Massachnsetts 
during  the  colonial  and  provincial  periods;  and 
this  imperfect  outline  of  its  history  may  give  some 
idea  of  the  antecedents  and  traditions  of  the  Med- 
ical Society.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  such 
a  ground- work;  the  structure  was  built  on  such  a 
foundation.  It  was  so  planned  that  additions  and 
changes  might  be  made  to  meet  the  wants  of  ad- 
vancing time,  and  not  weaken  the  unity  or  sym- 
metry of  the  whole.  The  Avorkmen  were  earnest 
and  honest,  and  the  result  proves  their  faithful 
labor.  They  have  erected  an  edifice  which  has 
stood  the  test  of  a  century,  and  seemingly  bids  fair 
to  last  for  ages  to  come. 

I  now  purpose  to  trace  in  some  detail  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Society  from  its  beginning  one 
hundred  years  ago,  to  the  present  time. 

Civil  commotion  stirs  up  thought  and  quickens 
mental  activity.  When  the  first  steps  were  taken 
to  establish  this  Society,  the  surrender  of  York- 
town  had  not  occurred,  and  it  was  a  matter  of 
grave  doubt  when  the  Revolution  would  come  to  an 
end;  but  a  six  years'  war  had  drilled  the  popular 
mind  in  great  things.  The  uncertainty  of  public 
affairs  tended  rather  to  excite  effort  than  to  repress 
it.     In  such  a  time  and  under  such  conditions  the 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  87 

Massacluisctts  Medical  Society  was  organized.  It 
was  no  small  aflair  to  bring  together  from  all  parts 
of  the  Commonwealth  the  representatives  of  the 
medical  profession,  and  to  harmonize  their  conflict- 
ing views.  Berkshire  county  was  two  days  dis- 
tant fi-om  Boston,  and  relatively  as  far  off  as 
Chicago  and  St.  Louis  are  to-day ;  while  that  large 
northeast  territory,  called  the  District  of  Maine, 
was  as  little  known  as  the  farthest  northwest  region 
is  known  to  us  now.  Between  the  different  sec- 
tions of  the  State  there  were  then  small  conveni- 
ences for  general  travel,  and  few  postal  facilities, 
by  means  of  which  an  interchange  of  visits  and 
ideas,  so  conducive  to  unification  of  action,  could  be 
brought  about.  The  formation  of  this  Society  at 
once  increased  professional  intercourse,  in  spite 
of  these  difficulties,  and  accomplished  excellent 
results. 

The  Act  of  Incorporation,  under  which  this 
Society  first  met  one  hundred  years  ago,  is  found 
in  the  first  volume  of  its  "  Communications  "  (pages 
viii-xi) ,  and  is  as  follows :  — 

COJNIMONWEALTH   of  MASSACHUSETTS. 
In  the  Year  of  our  Lord,  1781. 

An  ACT  to  incorporate  certain  Physicians, 
by  the  l!^ame  of  The  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society. 

As  health  is  essentially  necessary  to  the  happiness  of  society  ; 
and  as  its  preservation  or  recovery  is  closely  connected  luith  the 
knoivledge  of  the  animal  economy,  and  of  the  properties  and 
effects  of  medicines;  and  as  the  benefit  of  medical  institutions, 


88  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

formed  on  liberal  principles,  and  encouraged  by  the  patronage 
of  the  laio,  is  universally  acknowledged : 

Be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives in  General  Court  assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of 
the  same.  That,  Nathaniel  Walker  Appleton,  William  Baylies, 
Benjamin  Curtis,  Samuel  Danforth,  Aaron  Dexter,  Shirley 
Erving,  John  Frink,  Joseph  Gardner,  Samuel  HoUen,  Edward 
Augustus  Hohjoke,  Ebenezer  Hunt,  Charles  Jarvis,  Thomas 
Ivast,  Giles  Crouch  Kellogg,  John  Lynn,  James  Lloyd,  Joseph 
Orne,  James  Pecker,  Oliver  Prescott,  Charles  Pynchon,  Isaac 
Band,  Isaac  Band,  jun.  Micaijah  Sawyer,  John  Sprague, 
Charles  Stockbridge,  John  Barnard  Swett,  Cotton  Tifts,  John 
Warren,  Thomas  Welsh,  Joseph  Whipple,  William  Whiting,  be, 
and  they  hereby  are  formed  into,  constituted  and  made  a  body 
politic  and  corporate,  by  the  name  of  The  3Iassachusetts  Iledical 
Society  ;  and  that  they  and  their  successors,  and  such  other  per- 
sons as  shall  be  elected  in  the  manner  hereafter  mentioned,  shall  be 
and  continue  a  body  politic  and  corporate  by  the  same  name  forever. 

And  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid.  That  the  fellows 
of  said  society  may  from  time  to  time  elect  a  president,  vice  presi- 
dent and  secretary,  with  other  officers  as  they  shall  judge  neces- 
sary and  convenient;  and  they  the  fellows  of  said  society,  shall 
have  full  power  and  authority,  from  time  to  time,  to  determine  and 
establish  the  names,  number  and  duty  of  their  several  officers,  and 
the  tenure  or  estate  they  shall  respectively  have  in  their  offices ; 
and  also  to  authorize  and  empower  their  president  or  some  other 
officer  to  administer  such  oaths  to  such  officers  as  they,  the  fellows 
of  said  society,  shall  appoint  and  determine  for  the  well  ordering 
and  good  government  of  said  society,  provided  the  same  be  not 
repugnant  to  the  laws  of  this  commonwealth. 

And  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That  the  fellows 
of  said  society  shall  have  one  common  seal,  and  power  to  break, 
change  and  renew  the  same  at  their  pleasure. 

And  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That  they,  the 
fellows  of  said  society,  may  sue  and  be  sued  in  all  actions,  real, 
personal  or  mixed,  and  prosecute  and  defend  the  same  unto  final 
judgment  and  execution,  by  the  name  of  The  Ilassachusetts 
Medical  Society. 

And  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid.  That  the  fellows 
of  said  society  may  from  time  to  time  elect  such  persons  to  be 
fellows  thereof,  as  they  shall  judge  proper;  and  that  they,  the 
fellows  of  said  society,  shall  have  power  to  suspend,  expel  or 
disfranchise  any  fellows  of  said  society. 

And  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid.  That  the  fellows 
of  said  society  shall  have  full  power  and  authority  to  make  and 
enact  such  rules  and  bye  laws  for  the  better  government  of  said 


centei?:nial,  address.  89 

society,  as  arc  not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  this  commonwealth ; 
and  to  annex  reasonable  lines  and  penalties  to  the  breach  of  them, 
not  exc(!eding  the  sum  of  twenly  pounds,  to  be  sued  for  and  re- 
covered by  saitl  society,  and  to  their  own  use,  in  any  court  of 
record  within  this  coninionwealth  proper  to  try  the  same;  and 
also  to  estal)lish  the  time  and  manner  of  convening  the  fellows  of 
said  society;  and  also  to  determine  the  number  of  fellows  that 
shall  be  present  to  constitute  a  meeting  of  said  society;  and  also, 
that  the  number  of  said  society,  who  are  inhabitants  of  this  com- 
monwealth, shall  not  at  any  one  time  be  more  than  seventy,  nor 
less  than  ten ;  and  that  their  meetings  shall  be  held  in  the  town  of 
Boston,  or  such  other  place  within  this  commonwealth,  as  a 
majority  of  the  members  present  in  a  legal  meeting,  shall  judge 
most  fit  and  convenient. 

And  whereas  it  is  clearly  of  importance,  that  a  just  discrimi- 
nation should  be  made  between  such  as  are  dulij  educated  and 
propcrhj  qualified  for  the  duties  of  their  profession,  and  those 
luho  may  ignorantly  and  wickedly  administer  Medicine,  whereby 
the  health  and  lives  of  many  valuable  individuals  may  be 
endangered,  or  perhaps  lost  to  the  community : 

Be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That  the 
president  and  fellows  of  said  society,  or  other  such  of  their  officers 
or  fellows  as  they  shall  appoint,  shall  have  full  power  and  authority 
to  examine  all  candidates  for  the  practice  of  physic  and  surgery, 
(who  shall  offer  themselves  for  examination,  respecting  their  skill 
in  their  profession)  and  if  upon  such  examination,  the  said  candi- 
dates shall  be  found  skilled  in  their  profession,  and  fitted  for  the 
practise  of  it,  they  shall  receive  the  approbation  of  the  society  in 
letters  testimonial  of  such  examination,  under  the  seal  of  the  said 
society,  signed  by  the  president,  or  such  other  person  or  persons 
as  shall  be  appointed  for  that  purpose. 

And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid.  That  if 
the  said  president,  and  such  other  person  or  persons,  so  elected 
and  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  examining  candidates  as  afore- 
said, shall  obstinately  refuse  to  examine  any  candidate  so  offering 
himself  for  examination  as  aforesaid,  each  and  every  such  person  so 
elected  and  appointed  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  suljject  to  a  line  of  one 
hundred  pounds,  to  be  recovered  by  the  said  candidate,  and  to  his 
own  use,  in  any  court  within  this  commonwealth  proper  to  try  the 
same. 

And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That  the 
fellows  of  said  society  niay,  and  shall  forever  be  deemed  capable 
in  law,  of  having,  holding  and  taking  in  fee  simple  or  any  less  estate 
by  gift,  grant  or  devise  or  otherwise,  any  land,  tenement  or  other 
estate,  real  or  personal ;  provided  that  the  annual  income  of  the 
w'hole  real  estate  that  may  be  given,  granted  or  devised  to,  or  pur- 


90  OENTENlSriAL   ADDRESS. 

chased  by  the  said  society,  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  two  hundred 
pounds,  and  the  annual  income  oi'  interest  of  said  personal  estate, 
shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  six  hundred  jyounds ;  all  the  sums 
mentioned  in  this  act  to  be  valued  in  silver  at  six  shillings  and 
eight  pence  pQi'  ounce:  and  the  annual  income  or  interest  of  the 
said  real  and  personal  estate,  together  with  the  fines  and  penalties 
paid  to  said  society,  or  recovered  by  them,  shall  be  appropriated 
to  such  purposes  as  are  consistent  with  the  end  and  design  of  the 
institution  of  said  society,  and  as  the  fellows  thereof  shall  de- 
termine. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  first  meeting  of  the  said 
Medical  Society  shall  be  held  in  some  convenient  place  in  the  town 
of  Boston  ;  and  that  Edward  Augustus  Holyoke,  Esq ;  be,  and  he 
hereby  is  authorised  and  directed  to  fix  the  time  for  holding  the 
said  meeting,  and  to  notify  the  same  to  the  fellows  of  said  Medical 
Society. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  October  30,  1781. 
This  bill    having   had    three  several    readings,    passed   to    be 

GIlIlCtGCl. 

NATFIANIEL  GORHAM,  Speaker. 

In  Senate,  November  1,  1781. 
This  bill  having  had  two  several  readings,  passed  to  be  enacted. 

SAMUEL  ADAMS,  President. 

Approved,  JOHN  HANCOCK. 

A  true  copy. 

Attest,  JOHN  AVERY,  jun.  Secretary. 

In  accordance  with  the  last  clause  of  this  Act, 
Dr.  Holyoke  published  a  notice  in  "  The  Boston 
Gazette  and  The  Country  Journal,"  JsTovember  12, 
1781,  calling  a  meeting  of  the  members  whose 
names  are  mentioned  in  the  charter.  It  was  called 
"  at  the  County  Court-House,  in  Boston,  on  Wed- 
nesday the  28th  Day  of  this  Instant  JJl^ovember,  at 
Ten  o'clock,  A.  M.  for  the  Purpose  of  chusing 
Officers  of  the  Society,  and  transacting  any  other 
Matter  (which  by  this  Act  they  are  empowered  to 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  91 

do)  as  they  shall  think  proper."  The  charter  mem- 
bers were  thirty-one  in  number  and  represented 
difterent  sections  of  the  State :  fourteen  of  them 
lived  in  Boston;  two  in  ^ewburyport;  two  in 
Salem;  and  one  in  each  of  the  following  towns: — 
Cambridge,  Danvers,  Dedham,  Dighton,  Great 
Barrington,  Groton,  Hadley,  JS^orthampton,  Port- 
land, Rutland,  Scituate,  Sprmgheld,  and  Wey- 
mouth. By  counties,  as  constituted  at  that  time, 
Suffolk  had  sixteen  members;  Essex  had  five; 
Hampshire,  three;  Middlesex,  two;  Berkshire, 
Bristol,  Plymouth,  Worcester,  and  Cumberland,  in 
the  District  of  Maine,  one  each.^ 

The  first  meeting  of  the  corporation  was  duly 
held  in  the  County  court-house,  on  ]!^ovember  28 
1781,  at  which  time  there  were  present  nineteen 
of  the  thirty-one  persons  whose  names  are  given  in 
the  Act  of  Incorporation.  The  court-house  of  that 
period  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present  one  in  Court 
Street.  The  first  vote  j^assed  was  that  the  ofiicers 
at  this  meeting  should  be  chosen  lyro  tempore; 
and  subsequently  "Edward  Augustus  Holyoke 
Esq:"  was  elected  president,  "Doct!"  Isaac  Rand 
junr"  secretary,  and  "  Doctf  Thomas  Welsh,"  treas- 


^  A  curious  incident  happened  in  connection  with  the  fonnation  of  the 
Medical  Society.  The  name  of  John  Sprague  appears  among  those  men- 
tioned in  the  Act  of  Incorporation ;  and  accordingly  Dr.  John  Sprague,  of 
Dedham,  was  present  at  the  early  meetings  and  took  part  in  the  proceed- 
ings. This  continued  until  July  18,  1782,  when  Dr.  John  Sprague,  of 
Newburyport,  was  chosen  a  member.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Councillors, 
held  October  4,  1782,  a  reply  to  the  notification  of  his  election  was  read, 
wherein  he  stated  that  he  was  the  senior  physician  of  the  name  in  the 
State,  and  that  he  considered  hiansclf  already  a  member  by  the  charter. 
Dr.  Spragiic,  of  Dedham,  who  was  present  at  the  time,  quietly  resigned  his 
supposed  membership ;  but  he  was  chosen  again  a  member  at  the  same 
meeting. 


92  CEIN'TEN^ITIAL   ADDKESS. 

iirer.  The  records  follow  the  precedent  of  the 
Act  in  withholding  the  medical  title  from  Dr. 
Holyoke's  name.  Perhaps  it  was  because  Dr. 
Holyoke  held  a  commission  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace ;  and  the  title  of  Esquire  at  that  time  carried 
a  great  deal  of  dignity  with  it. 

The  second  meeting  was  held  in  the  court-house, 
on  April  17,  1782,  and  Dr.  Samuel  Holten  chosen 
president  jpro  tempore.  A  committee,  consisting  of 
Drs.  Tufts,  Warren,  and  Appleton,  was  appointed 
to  consider  the  form  of  letters  testimonial  to  be 
given  to  those  candidates  who  were  approved  by 
the  censors  of  the  Society ;  and  to  invent  a  device 
and  motto  for  a  seal.  This  was  an  important 
committee,  and  they  appear  to  have  reported  at  the 
next  meeting, — though  I  do  not  find  any  record  of 
the  details, — when  they  asked  for  further  time  in 
regard  to  the  seal.  One  of  the  prime  objects  of 
the  Society  was  to  draw  a  line  between  the  intel- 
ligent and  the  ignorant  practitioners  of  medicine; 
and  it  was  the  function  of  this  committee  to  devise 
some  method  to  reach  that  end.  Even  the  matter 
of  the  seal  was  considered  sufficiently  important 
to  be  mentioned  in  a  separate  clause  of  the  original 
Act. 

The  third  meeting  was  held  on  June  5,  1782, 
and  Dr.  James  Lloyd  chosen  president  "^ro  hac 
vice^  At  this  meeting  permanent  officers  were 
elected  for  the  ensuing  year;  and  as  the  pioneers 
of  a  long  line  of  eminent  physicians  who  have  held 
office  in  this  distinguished  organization,  I  give  the 
names  of  all,  as  taken  from  the  records : — 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  93 

Edward  Augustus  Holyoke  Esq.  President 
Doct'  James  Pecker  Vice  President 

Doct'.  Samuel  Danforth 

Doctf  Joscnh  Gardner 

Hon:  Sam.  Holten  Esq. 

James  Lloyd  Esq.  y       Counsellors 

Doctf  Isaac  Rand  jun! 

Doctr  John  Sprague 

Hon :  Cotton  Tufts  Esq 

Doct.'  John-Barnard  Swett       Corresponding  Seer? 
Doctf  Nath.-Walker  Appleton  Recording  Seer? 
Doct.'.  Thomas  Welsh  Treasurer 

Doctr  Aaron  Dexter     Vice  Treasurer  «Ss  Librarian 

Docf.  Sam'  Danforth 

Docf.  Charles  Jarvis 

Docf.  Joseph  Orne  >       Censors 

Hon :  Cotton  Tufts  Esq. 

Docf.  Jolin  Warren 

At  this  meeting  it  was  voted 

"That  a  Cornittee  be  appointed  to  publish  a  List  of  the  Officers 
this  day  elected,  to  announce  to  the  Public  that  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society  is  organized,  also  to  invite  the  Correspondence  of 
the  Faculty  and  others  as  they  shall  think  proper." 

By  the  Act  of  Incorporation,  Dr.  Holyoke  was 
empowered  to  name  the  time  and  place  for  holding 
the  first  meeting  of  the  Society;  and  it  was  a  fit- 
ting supplement  to  the  previous  arrangements  that 
he  should  be  chosen  its  first  president.  He  is  so 
well  known  by  reputation,  that  it  seems  needless 
to  give  many  details  about  him.  Born  in  Salem, 
August  1,  1728,  he  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
in  the  class  of  1746,  and  began  the  study  of  med- 
icine under  the  guidance  of  Dr.  Thomas  Berry,  of 
Ipswich.  After  its  completion  he  entered  upon 
the  practice  in  his  native  town,  where  he  met  with 
great  success.  At  the  time  of  his  election,  he  had 
just  passed  what  is  called  the  middle  age  of  life,  and 
13 


94  centen:nial  address. 

was  engaged  in  a  large  and  increasing  business. 
Eminent  as  a  surgeon,  he  was  widely  known  not 
only  in  this  province,  but  in  Maine  and  ^ew  Hamp- 
shire, and  was  occupying  a  social  and  professional 
position  that  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  any  man. 

Dr.  Holyolie  continued  to  practise  medicine  in 
Salem  for  seventj^-nine  years;  and  it  was  said  of 
him  that  there  was  not  a  dwelling-house  in  the 
town  at  which  he  had  not  visited  professionally. 
During  a  long  life  he  enjoyed  almost  uninter- 
rupted health,  which  may  be  ascribed  in  part  to 
his  cheerful  disposition  and  his  continued  exercise 
out-of-doors.  He  died  March  31,  1829,  having 
reached  the  advanced  age  of  more  than  one  hun- 
dred years.  On  the  centennial  anniversary  of  his 
birth,  about  fifty  physicians  of  Boston  and  Salem 
gave  him  a  public  dinner,  at  which  he  appeared  in 
remarkable  spirits  and  vigor.  He  smoked  his  pipe 
at  the  table,  and  gave  an  appropriate  toast  to  the 
Medical  Society  and  its  members. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  a  great  discovery  is 
nearly  made,  but  the  final  step  is  not  taken  to  ac- 
complish it.  Often  there  is  a  faint  glimmer  of  a 
new  truth,  but  yet  not  clear  enough  for  distinct 
assertion.  Such  was  the  experience  of  Dr.  Ho- 
lyoke  who  almost  anticipated  the  great  discovery 
of  Laennec.  The  following  report  of  a  case  made 
by  him  was  printed  in  the  year  1793,  though  it  was 
written  probably  long  before  that  time: — 

"  A  man  about  fifty -three  or  fifty-four  years  old,  of  a  thin  habit 
of  body,  labouring  under  a  very  bad  cough,  attended  with  a  hec- 
tick  fever,  profuse  sweats,  «S:c.  had  a  large  tumour  formed  upon  the 
upper  part  of  the  thorax  on  the  left  side,  extending  from  the 


CENTEOTTIAL   ADDRESS.  05 

shoulder  all  along  the  lower  edge  of  the  clavicle,  to  the  sternum, 
about  the  breadth  of  a  man's  hand.  This  tumour  had  all  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  large  abscess ;  it  was  accordingly  treated  as  such, 
and  suppuration  seemed  to  be  coming  on  as  usual ;  but  on  removing 
the  dressings  one  day,  I  found  the  tumour  (though  the  skin  re- 
mained whole)  less  prominent  to  the  eye,  flabby  to  the  touch,  and 
the  pain  and  inflammation  abated.  I  was  now  at  a  loss  what  to 
make  of  the  case,  as  the  abscess  seemed  too  far  advanced  to  expect 
discussion.  While  I  was  thinking  of  the  matter,  the  patient  asked, 
me  '  what  could  occasion  that  blubbering  noise  (as  he  expressed 
himself)  in  the  sore.'  Upon  which,  applying  my  ear  near  the 
part  where  he  perceived  the  noise,  I  plainly  heard  a  whizzing,  and 
as  he  termed  it,  a  blubbering  noise  at  every  breath,  exactly  re- 
sembling such  as  arises  from  the  rushing  of  air  through  a  small 
orifice.  This  orifice  appeared  to  be  just  vuider  the  left  clavicle, 
but  nearer  to  the  shoulder  than  the  sternum.  Upon  viewing  the 
part  attentively,  a  small  dilation  and  contraction  was  perceptible 
m^on  expiration  and  inspiration ;  and  the  part  was  evidently  puffy 
and  flatulent  to  the  touch.  At  this  time  the  cough  was  urgent, 
and  the  expectoration  very  copious. 

From  this  time,  the  tumour,  inflammation,  and  hardness,  sub- 
sided ;  the  noise  in  breathing  gradually  lessened,  till  it  ceased ; 
and  by  the  assistance  of  pectoral  medicines,  the  bark,  &c.  the 
hectick  and  cough  after  a  while  left  him;  and  with  them  the 
sweats,  «fcc.  his  appetite  returned,  and  he  recovered  his  strength, 

though  slowly ;  and  is  at  this  time  in  tolerable  health." 

— ('•  Memoirs  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences," 
vol.  ii.  part  i.  189,  190.) 

It  was  Dr.  Holyoke's  opinion  that  the  abscess 
formed  originahy  in  the  thoracic  parietes,  and  after- 
ward penetrated  to  the  Inng,  which  had  become 
adherent  to  the  walls  of  the  chest  at  this  part, — 
discharging  itself  throngh  the  bronchial  tubes. 
The  abscess  having  a  communication  with  a  cavity 
in  the  lung,  the  air  would  pass  to  and  fro,  during 
the  act  of  breathing ;  "  and  this  passing  and  re- 
passing of  the  air,"  continues  Dr.  Holyoke,  "  will 
fully  account  for  the  noise  which  the  patient  com- 
plained of." 

From  the  accompanying  symptoms,  such  as 
emaciation,  cough,  and  hectic  fever,  it  seems  prob- 


96  GENTEKNIAL  ADDEESS. 

able  that  this  case  was  one  of  empyema,  arising 
from  plem'itic  inflammation,  in  which  the  matter 
pointed  outwardly,  but  before  breaking  through 
the  skin  burst  into  the  lung,  and  was  thereby  dis- 
charged. The  pathology  of  thoracic  disease  was 
not  then  understood  as  well  as  now;  and  it  is  not 
surprising  that  Dr.  Holyoke  should  have  thought 
that  the  abscess  formed  externally  to  the  chest,  and 
afterwards  made  its  way  into  the  lung.  The  re- 
port of  this  case  contains  more  than  a  hint  of  the 
great  fact  which  has  rendered  the  name  of  a 
French  physician  illustrious  in  the  annals  of  med- 
icine. 

The  fourth  meeting  of  the  Society  was  held  on 
July  18, 1783,  when  "  The  Com :  appointed  to  agree 
upon  a  Device  and  Motto  for  a  Seal,  laid  several 
Devices  before  the  Society,  particularly  a  Figure 
of  ^sculapius  in  his  proper  habit  pointing  to  a 
wounded  Hart  nipping  the  Herb  proper  for  his 
Cure  with  this  motto,  Wivere  natura.' "  The  design 
was  adopted,  though  the  motto  was  changed  to 
natura  duce;  and  the  same  committee  was  author- 
ized to  procure  a  seal  made  after  this  device. 

The  fifth  meeting  was  held  on  September  4,  when 
it  was  voted,  "  That  the  Fellows  of  this  Society  be 
requested  to  transmit  to  the  Kecording  Secretary 
an  Account  of  those  Diseases  that  have  from  one 
stated  Meeting  to  another  been  most  prevalent  in 
the  Circle  of  their  practise,  that  the  same  may  be 
laid  before  the  Council  for  their  Inspection  and 
such  communicated  to  the  Society  as  the  Council 
shall  direct."     Many  such  papers  were  then  sent 


centen:nial  address.  97 

ill,  which  aru  now  carefully  preserved  on  the 
Society's  files. 

The  sixth  meeting  was  held  on  October  IG,  but 
no  quorum  was  present. 

The  seventh  meeting'  w^as  held  on  April  9, 1783, 
when  the  committee  on  the  Seal  repoi'ted  that  they 
had  jDrocured  one,  which  was  laid  belbre  the  Society 
and  unanimously  accepted.  It  was  also  voted  that 
candidates  for  practice,  who  had  passed  a  satis- 
factory examination  by  the  Censors,  should  pay 
the  sum  of  eight  Spanish  milled  dollai's.  A  cir- 
cular letter  was  adopted  to  be  sent  to  those  mem- 
bers mentioned  in  the  Act  of  Incorporation,  wdio 
had  not  been  present  at  any  of  the  meetings.  By 
the  records  i  t  appears  that  there  w- ere  eight  such 
persons.     The  letter  is  as  follows : — 

Sir,  The  Fellows  of  tlie  Mass:  Medical  Society,  who  have 
met  from  time  to  time  for  the  purposes  of  their  Appointment,  have 
conceived  themselves  happy  in  your  having  been  apjjointed  one 
of  its  Fellows,  and  beg  Leave  to  assure  you,  that  your  Comuni- 
cations  will  at  all  times  be  highly  acceptable;  and  that  they  are 
sincerely  desirous  of  your  Assistance  in  carrying  on  the  Business 
of  the  Society,  which  in  its  Beginning  calls  for  more  particular 
Exertions,  and  requires  the  joint  Efforts  of  all  its  members. 

The  Society  has  been  so  unfortunate  as  not  in  any  way  to  be 
informed  of  the  Determination  of  several  Gentlemen,  appointed  by 
an  Act  of  the  General  Court  Fellows  thereof,  relative  to  their  Ac- 
ceptance of  tlie  Trust,  for  want  of  wliicli  information,  the  Society 
in  the  prosecution  of  its  Business,  has  found  itself  erabarrass'd  and 
unable  to  make  such  Ari'angements  as  might  more  fully  tend  to 
promote  the  P^nds  and  Designs  of  the  Institution,  for  which  Reason 
we  have  address'd  you  on  this  Subject;  not  doul)ting  of  your  be- 
nevolent Intentions  &  Readiness  to  promote  an  Undertaking,  con- 
ducive as  we  hope  to  the  Benefit  of  Mankind  in  general  and  the 
Medical  Faculty  in  particular.  We  jn-esume  that  your  answer  of 
acceptance  will  be  forwarded  by  the  first  oj)]?"- 

With  sentiments  of  Respect  &  Esteem, 

We  are  &c 


98  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

At  the  same  meeting  a  Resolve  was  read,  passed 
by  the  General  Court  March  20,  on  the  petition  of 
Cotton  Tufts,  granting  the  use  of  a  room  in  the 
Manufactory  House  to  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society,  in  connection  with  the  American  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences.  The  Manufactory  House 
was  a  noted  public  building  of  that  time,  belong- 
ing to  the  State,  and  situated  in  Tremont  Street, 
nearly  opposite  to  the  site  of  the  Park  Street  Meet- 
ing-house. The  room  was  fitted  up  conjointly  by 
the  two  associations,  and  first  used  by  the  Med- 
ical Society  on  October  15, 1783.  It  was  occupied 
by  them  for  the  stated  meetings  held  on  October 
30,  and  April  14,  1784,  and  probably  for  other 
minor  purposes.  The  meeting  on  June  2,  as  well 
as  the  one  on  July  21,  took  place  in  the  County 
court-house,  where  all  the  former  ones  had  been 
held,  before  the  room  in  the  Manufactory  House 
was  occupied.  The  meeting  of  April  13,  1785, 
was  held  in  "the  Stockholders'  room  in  the  Bank." 
The  Massachusetts  Bank,  then  the  only  bank 
in  the  State,  was  organized  in  the  year  1784,  at 
which  time  it  bought  the  Manufactory  House,  sold 
by  order  of  the  General  Court.  The  stockholders' 
room  in  this  building  was  the  apartment  previously 
used  by  the  Society.  The  meeting  of  May  4, 1785, 
took  place  in  the  Senate  Chamber  of  the  Old 
State  House,  and  the  one  of  October  19,  1785,  was 
held  in  "Mr.  Furnass's  painting  room  in  Court 
St.;"  while  that  of  October  18,  1786,  Avas  "in the 
hired  room  in  Court  Street," — which  may  have 
been  the  same  as  Mr.  Furnass's  room.     The  meet- 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  99 

ings  of  October  20,  1790,  and  April  V],  1701, 
were  held  in  Concert  Hall,  a  noted  tavern  at  the 
sontherly  corner  of  Court  and  Hanover  streets.  I 
have  been  particular  in  giving  some  of  the  minor 
details  of  the  Society's  early  history,  in  order 
to  show  its  small  beginnings  and  the  changing 
places  of  its  meetings.  It  is  well  sometimes  to 
compare  present  opportunities  with  the  narrow 
means  of  past  generations. 

The  birth  of  the  present  Medical  School  in  the 
year  1783  formed  an  epoch  in  the  medical  history 
of  the  State,  though  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society,  as  a  corporate  body,  did  not  officiate  on 
the  occasion.  At  first  the  School  was  looked  upon 
by  the  fellows  with  some  jealousy,  as  they  feared 
that  the  existence  of  two  institutions  would  lead  to 
serious  embarrassments.  The  matter  was  consid- 
ered of  sufficient  importance  to  be  referred  to  a 
special  committee  of  the  Society,  which,  however, 
did  not  report  for  nearly  three  years.  At  the 
meeting  held  on  October  15,  1783,  it  is  recorded 
that— 

"  Upon  a  Recomendation  of  Council,  to  consider  "Whither  the 
Doings  of  any  of  the  literary  Societies  in  this  Coilionwealth,  inter- 
fere with  the  Charter  Rights  of  the  Medical  Society ; 

"  Voted,  That  a  Coiii :  of  three  be  appointed  to  take  into  Con- 
sideration the  above  Recomendation,  and  to  confer  with  any  such 
Societies  (upon  the  Subject,  as  they  may  think  proper)  and 
report : 

"  Voted  That  D'.  Cotton  Tufts,  D''.  Kneeland  &  D"".  Appleton 
be  this  Committee. 

Nothing  further  relating  to  this  subject  appears 
to  have  been  done,  until  the  meeting  on  June  7, 
1786,  when— 


100  CENTEN^IAI.   ADDRESS. 

"The  Com:  appointed  on  15  Oof:  1783  to  cousitlei-  wliitlier 
the  Doings  of  any  of  the  literary  Societies  in  this  Comonwealth 
interfere  with  the  Charter  Rights  of  this  Society,  &  to  confer 
with  any  such  Societies  upon  the  Subject  as  they  might  think 
proper,  reported.  That  they  had  attended  the  business  of  their  ap- 
pointment and  upon  examining  the  Medical  Institutions  of  Harvard 
College,  the  Coiii :  were  of  Opinion  that  those  Institutions  did  in- 
terfere with  the  Charter- Right  of  this  Society  '  to  examine  Can- 
didates for  the  practise  of  Physic  &  Surgery  &  to  grant  Letters 
testimonial  of  the  Examination  of  such  as  shall  be  found  skilled  in 
their  profession  '  in  that,  those  Institutions  provided  for  the  Medi- 
cal professors  of  that  College  examining  their  Pupils  &  granting 
Letters  testimonial  or  public  Certificates,  to  such  of  them  as  they 
judged  proper,  of  their  Abilities  to  practise  Physic.  Whereupon 
the  CoiB :  applied  to  the  Government  of  the  College  for  a  Confer- 
ence upon  the  Subject,  which  was  had,  &  ended  in  an  agreement 
that  the  Com :  should  confer  with  the  Medical  professors  of  the 
College  &  make  such  arrangements  respecting  this  matter  as 
should  be  mutually  agreed  upon  for  the  Honor  of  both  Societies  & 
the  advancement  of  Medical  Knowledge.  This  Conference  be- 
tween those  Medical  professors  &  the  Coiii:  for  some  reasons, 
unknown  to  the  Corn:  was  never  held.  The  Coiii:  further  report 
that  it  has  lately  been  suggested  to  them  that  the  Medical  Institu- 
tions of  Harv :  College  have  been  altered,  whereupon  Enquiry  was 
made  respecting  the  Matter  and  an  Ace*'  of  the  above  Institutions 
authenticated  by  the  Seer?  of  the  Overseers,  was  procured,  and 
upon  a  careful  examination  the  Coin  :  were  clearly  &  unanimously 
of  Opinion  that  Harvard  College  Medical  Institutions  do  not,  and 
that  no  Doings  of  that  or  of  any  other  literary  Society  do,  as  far 
as  the  Coin :  could  find,  interfere  with  the  Charter  Rights  of  this 
Society." 

At  this  time  there  were  but  three  professors  in 
the  Medical  School  j  and  two  of  these  were  origi- 
nal members  of  the  Medical  Society,  It  was, 
therefore,  extremely  improbable  that  there  would 
be  any  permanent  friction  between  the  two  bodies. 
The  Medical  Society  had  no  right  to  confer  degrees ; 
and  it  does  not  appear  that  the  Medical  School  had 
any  intention  of  granting  testimonial  letters  to  the 
]3rofession  at  large.  AYhat  then  bid  fair  to  be  a 
little  tempest  soon  subsided. 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  101 

The  Americjin  Kcvolution  had  o[)ened  a  new 
field  for  medical  investigations,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  military  hospitals  furnished  increased  faci- 
lities for  the  study  of  practical  anatomy.  The 
opportunities  for  dissection  were  frequent,  and  the 
young  and  enthusiastic  students  of  medicine  were 
not  slow  to  avail  themselves  of  these  advantages. 
Dr.  John  Warren  had  been  appointed  superin- 
tending surgeon  of  the  military  hospital  in  Boston; 
and  his  zeal  for  anatomical  and  surgical  studies 
soon  prompted  him  to  utilize  some  of  the  bodies 
of  soldiers  who  had  died,  without  friends  to  claim 
for  them  the  last  rites  of  burial.  To  this  end,  in 
the  winter  of  1780,  he  began  a  course  of  demon- 
strations at  the  hospital,  situated  at  the  west  end 
of  the  town,  near  the  site  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital ;  and  this  course  of  lectures  was 
the  forerunner  of  those  now  given  at  the  Harvard 
Medical  School.  These  demonstrations  were  car- 
ried on  with  great  secrecy,  and  attended  only  by  a 
few  physicians  and  medical  students.  During  the 
next  winter  another  course  was  given,  which  was 
more  joublic;  and  these  two  courses  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  the  present  Harvard  School.  Dr.  War- 
ren was  encouraged  in  the  undertaking  by  the  help 
he  received  from  the  Boston  Medical  Society,  an 
association  organized  about  that  time  to  pursue 
anatomical  studies.  The  School  began  operations 
in  the  year  1783;  and  Dr.  Warren  was  chosen, 
most  naturally,  to  fill  the  professorship  of  anatomy 
and  surgery.  At  first  the  lectiu-es  were  delivered 
at  Cambridge,  and  were  attended  not  only  by  the 
14 


102  CENTENIS^IAL   ADDEESS. 

medical  students,  but  by  the  senior  class  of  the 
college.  Subsequently  the  whole  course  of  in- 
struction was  given  in  Boston,  where  there  were 
better  opportunities  for  clinical  practice  and  sur- 
gical operations.  This  change  took  place  in  the 
autumn  of  1810,  though  it  had  in  part  been  brought 
about  during  the  preceding  year.  The  removal 
was  followed  immediately  by  a  large  increase  in 
the  number  of  students. 

Dr.  Warren  held  the  position  from  his  election 
]N^ovember  22,  1782,  until  his  death,  which  took 
place  April  4,  1815.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
son.  Dr.  John  Collins  Warren,  who  held  the  j^lace 
until  the  year  1817,  when  he  was  followed  by  Dr. 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes.  It  is  not  a  little  re- 
markable that  during  a  period  of  nearly  a  century 
this  chair  has  had  but  three  occupants ;  and  I  doubt 
whether  a  similar  term  of  service  by  three  succes- 
sive professors  can  be  found  in  any  other  college 
of  the  country.  Dr.  John  Warren,  who  was  the 
younger  brother  of  Dr.  Joseph  Warren,  the  Revo- 
lutionary General,  is  the  ancestor  of  a  long  line  of 
eminent  physicians.  He  was  followed  in  the  pro- 
fession by  his  son,  Dr.  John  Collins  Warren,  the 
father  of  the  late  Dr.  Jonathan  Mason  Warren,  a 
distinguished  surgeon,  whose  memory  I  revere  as 
that  of  a  faithful  preceptor.  It  is  with  feelings 
akin  to  pride  that  I  mention  him  on  this  occasion 
as  my  instructor  when  a  medical  student,  as  his 
father  before  him  had  been  of  my  father.  The 
representative  of  the  Warren  family,  in  the  fourth 
generation,  can  stand  on  his  own  merits  without 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  103 

any  help  from  the  name;  and  to-morrow  ho  will 
speak  for  hhnself  before  this  Society,  as  the  orator 
of  the  day. 

In  the  early  period  of  its  history,  the  School  was 
not  known  by  its  present  name,  but  was  called  the 
Medical  Institution  of  Harvard  College;  though 
somewhat  later  it  is  spoken  of  as  the  Medical 
School  of  Harvard  College  or  of  Harvard  Univer- 
sity. Occasionally  it  is  mentioned  in  the  news- 
papers as  the  Boston  Medical  School ;  and  after  its 
removal  from  Cambridge,  it  is  sometimes  called 
the  Massachusetts  Medical  College,  the  name  given 
to  the  building  erected  in  Mason  Street,  for  the 
use  of  the  School.  An  engraving  of  this  structure 
may  be  found  in  "  The  JS'ew  England  Journal  of 
Medicine  and  Surgery,"  for  April,  1816.  It  is  only 
in  recent  times,  perhaps  within  twenty-five  years, 
that  the  institution  has  been  called  the  Harvard 
Medical  School.  This  name  has  grown  up  gradu- 
ally, and  now  we  seldom  or  never  hear  any  other 
given  to  it. 

The  Berkshire  Medical  Institution  may  be  no- 
ticed in  this  place.  It  was  established  at  Pittsfield, 
in  the  year  1822,  in  connection  with  Williams 
College,  though  fifteen  years  later  it  became  inde- 
pendent of  it.  It  filled  an  important  position  in 
the  medical  history  of  the  State,  and  was  always 
in  close  affiliation  with  this  Society.  At  one  time 
it  had  a  large  number  of  students ;  but  owing  to  a 
diversity  of  causes  its  prosperity  was  checked, 
and  it  was  given  up  as  a  medical  school  in 
the  year  1868.     By  an  Act  of   the  Legislature, 


104  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

passed  May  22,  1869,  the   corporation  was   dis- 
solved. 

At  the  meeting  held  October  26,  1785,  corre- 
sponding and  advising  committees  were  appointed 
for  the  different  counties  of  the  State,  in  order  to 
encourage  reports  of  professional  cases  to  this 
Society;  and  many  years  later,  on  April  28,  1803, 
it  was  voted — 

"  That  the  Commonwealth  be  divided  into  4  Districts,  the 
Middle,  Southern,  Eastern,  &  Western ;  the  Middle  to  consist  of 
Suffolk,  Norfolk,  Essex,  &  Middlesex;  the  Southern  of  Ply- 
mouth, Bristol,  Barnstable,  Dukes  County,  and  Nantucket;  the 
Eastern  district  [to  consist]  of  Maine;  the  Western  [of]  Hamp- 
shire, Berkshire,  and  Worcester." 

Immediately  afterward  committees  were  ap- 
pointed for  each  of  these  districts,  "  to  ascertain 
who  are  deserving  of  becoming  Fellows."  These 
organizations  have  since  grown  and  become  the 
present  District  Societies.  At  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  Hampshire  County  included  the 
present  ones  of  Franklin  and  Hampden. 

At  the  meeting  held  on  ISTovember  8,  1786,  the 
Council  of  the  Society  was  requested  to  consider 
the  propriety  of  addressing  the  Legislature  that 
some  measures  might  be  taken  to  prevent  the  sale 
of  bad  and  adulterated  medicines,  and  to  report 
thereon. 

In  the  spring  of  1790,  the  first  number  of  a 
publication  entitled  "  Medical  Papers ''  was  pre- 
pared under  the  direction  of  the  Society,  and  five 
hundred  copies  printed;  but,  for  the  want  of  funds, 
the  second  number  did  not  appear  until  the  year 
1806.      The  third  nmnber  was  printed  in  1808, 


CENTElSTs^IAL   ADDRESS.  105 

which  completed  the  first  volume  of  the  scries  now 
known  as  the  "Medical  Communications  of  the 
Massachusetts  Medical  Society."  It  is  made  up 
almost  entirely  of  papers  written  hy  the  members, 
giving"  the  result  of  their  observations  on  diseases 
and  epidemics  in  their  respective  neighborhoods. 
The  address  of  Dr.  Isaac  Kand,  delivered  June  6, 
1804:,  is  usually  bound  in  this  volume.  Its  subject 
is  "Observations  on  Phthisis  Pulmonalis  ";  and  it 
is  the  first  one  of  the  long  series  of  annual  ad- 
dresses made  before  the  Society.  This  pamphlet 
became  so  rare  that,  by  a  vote  of  the  Councillors, 
it  was  reprinted  in  the  year  1853.  It  Was  published 
in  exact  fac-siinile,  under  the  careful  supervision 
of  the  late  Dr.  jS'athaniel  Bradstreet  Shurtleff. 
The  "  Medical  Communications "  have  been  con- 
tinued until  now,  when  they  comprise  a  work  of 
twelve  volumes.  One  number  of  the  "  Communi- 
cations "  appears  each  year,  and  five  or  six  of 
them  make  up  a  volume ;  the  later  numbers  con- 
sisting of  the  annual  addi*esses,  proceedings  of  the 
meetings,  and  other  papers. 

A  Pharmacopoeia,  prepared  by  Drs.  James  Jack- 
son and  John  Collins  Warren,  was  published  in 
the  year  1808,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Society. 
It  was  formed  on  the  plan  of  the  Pharmacopoeia 
of  the  Edinburgh  College,  and  was  designed  to 
introduce  modern  nomenclature,  and  to  establish 
greater  uniformity  in  the  prescriptions  of  physi- 
cians. "  The  American  New  Dispensatory,"  writ- 
ten by  Dr.  James  Thacher,  and  published  in  the 
year  1810,  was  submitted  to  a  committee  of  this 


106  CENTEiraTAL   ADDRESS. 

Society,  and  received  its  oflScial  sanction.  The 
basis  of  this  work  was  the  Pharmacopoeia  which 
has  just  been  mentioned.  The  "  Library  of  Prac- 
tical Medicine  " — a  series  of  twenty-five  volumes, 
mainly  reprints  of  English  works — was  also  pub- 
lished for  the  use  of  the  fellows.  It  began  in  the 
year  1831,  and  was  continued  until  1868. 

"  The  Publications  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society,"  technically  so  called,  were  begun  in  the 
year  1860,  and  kept  up  until  1871.  They  consist 
of  three  volumes,  comprising,  for  the  most  part, 
essays  and  reports  read  at  the  meetings,  and  sub- 
sequently published.  Papers  of  this  character 
are  now  printed  in  the  "  Communications,"  and  do 
not  appear  in  any  separate  serial. 

It  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  mention  in  this 
place  "  The  I^ew  England  Journal  of  Medicine  and 
Surgery,"  which  was  published  quarterly  in  Bos- 
ton. Wliile  it  was  not  an  ofiicial  organ,  it  was 
"conducted  by  a  number  of  physicians,"  in  the 
warmest  interest  of  this  Society.  It  was  edited 
with  much  ability,  and  contained  many  original 
papers.  It  began  in  the  year  1812,  and  was  kept 
up  until  1828,  when  it  was  followed  by  "  The 
Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,"  a  publica- 
tion which  has  continued  till  the  present  time. 

The  protective  power  of  vaccination  was  dis- 
covered in  England  by  Edward  Jenner,  near  the 
end  of  the  last  century;  and  the  news  of  its 
discovery  was  soon  brought  to  this  country. 
Among  the  first  persons  here,  and  perhaps  the 
first  whose  critical  attention  was  called  to  its  im- 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  107 

])oi'taiiec,  was  Dr.  Beiijamin  Waterhouse,  of  Cani- 
bridg-e,  an  early  fellow  of  this  Soeiety.  Its  intro- 
duction, like  that  of  variolous  inoculation,  was 
destined  to  meet  with  many  difficulties  and  obsta- 
cles; and  Di".  "Waterhouse  was  to  be  the  champion. 
He  wrote  much  as  an  advocate  of  the  cause;  and 
in  spite  of  popular  ridicule  and  prejudice  he  suc- 
ceeded in  carrying  the  day.  A  communication, 
signed  with  his  initials  and  dated  at  Cambridge, 
March  12,  is  found  in  the  "  Columbian  Centinel  " 
of  March  16,  1799.  It  is  headed  "  Sometliing  cu- 
rious in  the  Medical  Line,"  and  is  the  first  account 
of  vaccination  that  was  given  to  the  public  in  this 
country.  In  the  ailicle  Dr.  Waterhouse  describes 
cow-pox,  and  says  that  it  must  not  be  confounded 
with  another  disorder,  incident  to  the  human  race, 
which  bears  a  somewhat  similar  name.  He  printed 
the  account  in  a  newspaper  in  order  to  excite  -'the 
attention  of  our  dairy  farmers  to  such  a  distemper 
among  their  cows,"  and  to  inform  the  profession 
generally  of  this  security  against  small-pox. 

In  the  year  1800  he  published  a  tract  entitled 
"A  Prospect  of  exterminating  the  Small-pox;  be- 
ing the  history  of  the  Variola  Vaccina  or  Kine- 
pox,"  &c. ;  and  in  -it  he  describes  the  method  he 
used,  July  8,  1800,  in  vaccinating  his  son,  Daniel 
Oliver  Waterhouse,  a  lad  five  years  of  age,  w^ho 
had  this  disease  in  a  mild  way.  From  the  arm  of 
this  boy  he  vaccinated  another  son,  three  years 
old,  who  had  the  customary  symptoms  in  a  light 
form;  and  subsequently  he  "  inoculated  a  servant 
boy  of  about  12  years  of  age,  with  some  of  the 


108  CENTENlSriAL   ADDRESS. 

infected  thread  from  England."  This  expression 
furnishes  the  clew  to  the  method  adopted  for  ob- 
taining the  vaccine  virus,  which  came  "  by  a  short 
passage  from  Bristol,"  England;  though  in  the 
autumn  of  1802,  Dr.  Waterhouse  speaks  of  re- 
ceiving quill-points,  or  "tooth-picks,"  charged 
with  virus.  Before  he  had  finished  the  practice 
in  his  own  family,  he  had  vaccinated  four  of  his 
children  and  three  of  his  servants,  with  no  serious 
symptoms  or  consequences.  The  faith  he  had  in 
the  efiicacy  of  the  operation,  prompting  him  to 
try  it  on  one  of  his  own  children,  was  of  that  liv- 
ing kind  which  always  commands  attention.  In 
this  matter  we  are  reminded  of  Dr.  Boylston's 
bold  act  in  inoculating  his  son  for  small-pox. 

In  the  year  1802  Dr.  Waterhouse  published  a 
work  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  pages,  which 
formed  Part  II.  of  the  previously  mentioned  tract; 
and  in  it  he  gives  a  full  account  of  the  new  inocu- 
lation in  America.  In  all  his  efforts  to  introduce 
vaccination,  Dr.  Waterhouse  was  warmly  seconded 
by  Dr.  William  Aspinwall,  of  Brookline,  who  de- 
serves no  small  meed  of  j^raise  in  this  matter. 
Dr.  Aspinwall  had  paid  much  attention  to  variolous 
inoculation;  and  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Bo3^1ston, 
the  first  American  inoculator  in  point  of  time,  he 
erected  small-pox  hospitals  in  Brookline,  where  he 
treated  a  large  number  of  patients  for  the  disease, 
which  had  been  artificially  induced.  ]N^o  man  in 
America,  probably,  ever  inoculated  so  many  per- 
sons, or  enjoyed  so  wide  a  reputation  for  his  skill 
in  so  doing,  as  Dr.  Aspinwall. 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  109 

Massachusetts  was  the  first  colony  to  introduce 
small-pox  inoculation,  and  she  was  also  the  first 
State  to  adopt  kine-pox  vaccination;  and  her 
towns  have  always  taken  the  lead  in  sanitary  mat- 
ters. During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1802 
some  interesting  experiments  were  conducted  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  Boston  Board  of  Health, 
whose  unremitting  exertions  at  that  time,  to  pre- 
vent contagious  disease,  entitle  them  to  the  highest 
praise.  The  Board  fitted  up  a  hospital  on  ]N^od- 
dle's  Island,  now  known  as  East  Boston,  and  in- 
vited a  number  of  physicians  to  co-operate  with 
them  in  an  undertaking  to  diffuse  knowledge  and 
dispel  prejudice  in  regard  to  vaccination.  Some 
bold  experiments  were  tried  at  this  hos^^ital,  which 
fortunately  were  highly  successful.  On  August 
16,  1802,  nineteen  boys  were  vaccinated,  and  all 
passed  through  the  regular  stages  of  the  cow-pox; 
and  on  N^ovember  9,  twelve  of  these  children,  to- 
gether with  a  son  of  Dr.  Bartlett,  who  had  pre- 
viously had  the  cow-pox,  were  inoculated  for  the 
small-pox,  with  matter  taken  from  a  patient  in  the 
most  infectious  state  of  the  disease,  and  no  trouble 
w^hatever  followed.  In  order  to  show  the  true 
variolous  character  of  the  virus  used  in  this  ex- 
periment, two  lads  were  inoculated  at  the  same 
time  with  the  same  matter;  and  in  due  time  a 
severe  eruptive  fever  followed,  with  a  plenteous 
crop  of  variolous  pustules.  When  these  two  cases 
w^ere  in  the  right  stage,  matter  was  taken  from 
them  and  inserted,  for  a  second  time,  in  the  arms 

15 


110  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

of  the  twelve  children  who  had  been  previously 
inoculated,  and  besides  in  the  arms  of  the  other 
seven  boys  who  were  absent  at  the  first  inocuhition. 
They  had,  moreover,  been  exposed  to  infection, 
most  of  them  for  twenty  days,  by  being  in  the 
same  room  with  the  two  lads  who  had  the  small- 
pox; and  all  nineteen  escaped.  These  and  other 
facts  are  given  in  a  report  which  was  made  and 
signed  by  eleven  physicians, — James  Lloyd  and 
Benjamin  "Waterhouse  appearing  at  the  head  of 
the  list.  A  full  and  official  account  of  the  whole 
afi'air  is  found  in  the  "  Columbian  Centinel,"  De- 
cember 18,  1802. 

The  town  of  Milton  was  the  first  to  act  in  its 
corporate  capacity,  and  extend  the  benefits  of  vac- 
cination to  its  citizens.  In  the  year  1809,  three 
hundred  and  thirty-seven  persons  of  various  ages 
and  conditions  among  its  inhabitants  were  vacci- 
nated; twelve  of  them  were  afterward  tested  by 
inoculation  for  small-pox,  and  found  fully  pro- 
tected. The  test  was  conducted  by  Dr.  Amos 
Holbrook,  a  fellow  of  this  Society ;  and  the  twelve 
persons — eight  boys  and  four  girls — were  volun- 
teers for  the  operation.  The  town  acted  during 
the  whole  aflfair  in  a  most  liberal  and  intelligent 
spirit,  and  published  a  valuable  pamphlet,  setting 
forth  all  the  transactions  concerning  it.  It  was 
entitled  "A  Collection  of  Papers  relative  to  the 
Transactions  of  the  Town  of  Milton,  in  the  State 
of  Massachusetts,  to  promote  a  General  Inoculation 
of  the  Cow  Pox,  or  Kine  Pox,  as  a  never  failing- 
preventive  against  Small  Pox  Infection;"  and  a 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  Ill 

copy  was  sent  to  tlie  selectmen  of  each  toAvn  in 
the  Commonwealth. 

About  this  time  a  similar  plan  of  public  vacci- 
nation was  adopted  at  IsTew  Bedford.  By  an  Act 
of  the  General  Court,  passed  March  6,  1810,  the 
towns  throughout  the  State  were  directed  to  ap- 
point committees  to  superintend  the  matter,  and 
authorized  to  defray  the  expenses  of  a  general 
system  of  vaccination.  The  motive  power  of  all 
these  proceedings  was  furnished  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts Medical  Society,  though  it  was  not  always 
apparent. 

By  the  Act  of  Incorporation  the  membership  of 
the  Society  was  limited  to  seventy  persons;  but 
on  March  8,  1803,  an  additional  Act  was  passed 
by  the  General  Court,  which  removed  all  limita- 
tion, and  made  many  changes  in  other  respects. 
Since  then  the  number  of  fellows  has  been  steadily 
increasing;  and  at  the  present  time  every  town  in 
the  State,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  small  ones, 
is  represented  among  the  members. 

In  the  winter  of  1811,  an  effort  was  made  to  ob- 
tain from  the  General  Court  a  charter  for  another 
medical  society,  to  be  called  the  Massachusetts 
College  of  Physicians.  The  movement  was  stre- 
nuously opposed,  as  might  have  been  expected,  by 
the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society;  and  a  long 
controversy  was  the  result.  There  had  not  been 
so  much  personal  and  professional  feeling  excited 
among  the  physicians  of  the  State,  since  the  in- 
troduction of  small-pox  inoculation,  ninety  years 
before  this  time. 


112  CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS. 

The  following  petition  to  the  Legislature  was 

received  by  that  body  on  February  12,  1811,  and 

referred  by  them  six  days  afterward  to  the  next 

General  Court: — 

To  the  Honourable  the  Senate,  and  the  Honourable  the  House 
of  Representatives,  in  General  Court  assembled,  this  petition 
most  respectfully  sheweth : — 

That  seeing  health  is  a  blessing,  which  sweetens  all  our  enjoy- 
ments ;  and  long  life  that  which  all  men  naturally  desire,  so  every 
thing  that  tendeth  to  secure  the  one  or  leadeth  to  the  other,  is  an 
object  worthy  the  attention  of  this  Legislature. 

And  considering,  moreover,  that  of  the  various  methods  of 
obtaining  and  diffusing  medical  knowledge,  not  one  is  found  so 
effectual  and  desirable  as  a  friendly  and  liberal  intercourse  and 
honourable  associations  of  its  professors;  more  especially  when 
their  end  and  aim  is  mutual  improvement  and  the  publick  good ; 
and  experience  has  proved  that  two  literary  and  scientific  societies 
produce  more  than  double  the  advantage  of  one  — 

Influenced  by  these  sentiments,  we  your  petitioners  humbly 
pray  the  Honourable  the  Legislature  to  constitute  us,  and  such  as 
may  hereafter  associate  with  us,  a  body  politic  and  corporate,  by 
the  name  and  title  of  the  Massachusetts  College  of  Physicians ; 
with  such  powers,  privileges  and  immunities,  as  other  medical 
associations  of  the  like  nature  and  views  enjoy,  under  the  same 
denomination,  in  several  states  of  the  union. 

And  your  petitioners  shall,  as  in  duty  bound,  ever  pray. 

Thomas  Williams.        James  Mann. 

Samuel  Danforth.        Charles  Winship. 

Marshall  Spring.         Abijah  Draper. 

Nath.  Ames.  James  Lovell. 

William  Aspinwall.    Jacob  Gates. 

John  Jeffries.  William  Ingalls. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Medical  Society, 
held  June  5,  1811,  a  committee,  which  had  been 
appointed  "  to  prepare  a  memorial  to  the  General 
Court  respecting  a  petition  for  the  incorporation 
of  a  college  of  physicians,"  presented  the  follow- 
ing remonstrance.  It  was  adopted  almost  unani- 
mously, one  member  only  out  of  seventy-two  dis- 
senting. 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  113 

To  the  Honourable  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 

TiiK  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  in  consequence  of  an  ap- 
plication to  the  General  Court  in  February  last,  for  the  incorpora- 
tion of  a  College  of  Physicians,  beg  leave  respectfully  to  represent, 

That  the  said  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  was  established 
in  November,  17H1,  with  power  to  elect  officers,  examine  and 
licence  candidates  for  practice,  hold  estate,  and  perpetuate  its  ex- 
istence as  a  body  corporate.  In  June,  1782,  the  society  was 
organized  agreeably  to  the  provisions  of  the  statute,  and  the 
members  directed  in  every  way  to  extend  and  increase  its  use- 
fulness. By  an  additional  act  of  the  General  Court  in  February, 
1789,  authority  was  given  to  point  out  and  describe  such  a  mode 
of  medical  instruction  as  might  be  deemed  requisite  for  candidates 
previous  to  examination ;  which  important  duty  has  been  con- 
stantly attended  to,  and  occasionally  revised.  By  a  farther  addi- 
tional act  in  March,  1803,  as  the  society  was  thought  too  limited 
to  answer  the  purposes  of  its  establishment,  its  state  was  so  essen- 
tially changed,  that  the  number  of  its  fellows  originally  limited  to 
seventy,  may  embrace  all  respectable  physicians  and  surgeons 
resident  in  the  state ;  and  that  district  societies  may  be  established 
in  such  places  as  will  facilitate  medical  improvement,  and  prevent 
the  inconvenience  of  applying  in  all  cases  to  the  censors  in  Boston 
for  an  examination. 

In  consequence  of  this  provision,  several  district  societies  are 
formed,  and  are  in  a  prosperous  condition,  cultivating  medical 
science,  and  qualifying  candidates,  in  various  parts  of  the  common- 
wealth. It  has  been  the  constant  endeavour  of  the  society,  with- 
out reference  to  local  or  political  considerations,  to  admit  the  most 
respectable  practitioners  in  every  section  of  the  state,  and  they  are 
desirous  to  elect  all  others  of  known  talents  who,  by  accident  or 
from  any  other  cause,  are  not  admitted. 

The  number  of  candidates  licensed  for  practice  by  the  society 
is  more  than  eighty,  all  of  whom,  as  well  as  all  bachelors  of  medi- 
cine in  Harvard  University,  may  claim  admission  as  fellows  of  the 
society,  after  three  years  practice. 

The  present  number  of  fellows  exceeds  two  hundred.  Pub- 
lications of  important  cases  communicated  to  the  society ;  of  a 
Pharmacopseia,  which  is  now  in  general  use ;  and  of  Dissertations 
read  at  the  meetings,  have  been  made,  as  often  as  the  funds  would 
possibly  admit;  committees  have  been  appointed  to  investigate  the 
nature,  causes  and  cure  of  epidemics,  and  the  result  of  their 
inquiries  communicated  to  the  publick.  The  greatest  harmony  has 
distinguished  their  proceedings.  No  mention  was  ever  made,  as 
has  been  insinuated,  of  regulating  fees  in  practice.  The  sole  object 
of  the  society  has  been  to  promote  the  design  of  its  institution,  and 
the  fellows  have  been  led  to  believe  by  the  constant  patronage  and 


114  centen:ntal  address. 

siipiiort  of  the  Legislature,  as  well  as  the  publick  voice,  that  their 
conduct  has  been  approved. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark,  that,  fi'om  the  state  of 
medical  science,  at  the  incorporation  of  the  society,  its  progress, 
for  several  years,  was  slow,  and  that  it  was  less  useful  than  could 
have  been  wished ;  but  b}^  the  aid  and  co-operation  of  the  flourish- 
ing medical  school  at  the  University,  it  is  at  this  time  in  a  most 
prosperous  state ;  and  it  is  the  united  endeavour  of  all  to  promote 
medical  instruction,  and  discourage  unworthy  jDractices. 

It  is  found  on  examination  that  the  petition  on  the  files  of  the 
General  Court,  for  a  College  of  Physicians,  is  for  similar  powers 
and  privileges  with  this  society,  on  the  ground,  that  "  two  literary 
and  scientific  societies,  would  produce  more  than  double  the  ad- 
vantages of  one." — The  society  presume  not  to  dictate  to  the 
Legislature  on  this  important  subject;  but  they  beg  leave  respect- 
fully to  offer  an  opinion,  that  the  establishment  of  such  an  institu- 
tion can  effect  no  object,  not  accomplished  by  existing  societies,  and 
would  be  so  far  from  promoting  a  laudable  and  useful  emulation, 
that  candidates  rejected  by  one  society  would  resort  to  the  other, 
with  the  greatest  hopes  of  success,  whatever  might  be  their  quali- 
fications for  the  proper  exercise  of  their  profession.  Hence  would 
arise  disagreements  and  animosities,  which  in  other  parts  of  the 
United  States  (particularly  in  Philadelphia  at  a  former  period,  and 
very  recently  at  New- York)  have  been  injurious  to  the  profession 
and  to  the  publick.  Such  animosities  were  threatened  in  the  in- 
fancy of  this  establishment,  by  a  supposed  interference  of  Harvard 
College,  with  the  rights  of  the  Society,  and  would  have  produced 
the  most  unhappy  effects,  but  for  the  repeal  of  an  exceptionable 
article  in  that  establishment,  and  the  accommodating  conduct  of 
those  who  at  that  period  were  the  guardians  of  science,  and  the 
patrons  of  the  healing  art. 

From  these  considerations,  and  from  other  circumstances 
which  the  Medical  Society  are  prepared  to  state,  they  have 
thought  it  an  incumbent  duty  to  request  that  the  prayer  of  the 
said  petition  should  not  be  granted,  and  they  as  in  duty  bound 
will  ever  pray. 

In  behalf  of  the  Society, 

JOHN  WARREN,  President. 

Boston,  June  5,  181L 

On  June  14,  1811,  both  the  petition  and  remon- 
strance were  presented  at  the  same  time  to  the 
Legislature,  and  they  were  referred  to  a  joint 
committee  of  the  Senate  and  House.  After  cer- 
tain formahties  final  action  in  regard  to  them  was 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  115 

deferred  until  tlie  second  session  of  tlie  General 
Court,  which  was  to  meet  on  January  8,  18J2. 
Dui'ing  this  interval  communications  appeared  in 
the  newspapers,  and  pamphlets  were  printed,  set- 
ting forth  the  views  of  the  wi-iters  on  each  side  of 
the  question.  At  one  time  it  seemed  as  if  the  pe- 
titioners would  be  successful  in  their  efforts,  but 
finally  they  were  defeated. 

The  speech  of  Governor  Gerry,  at  the  opening 
of  the  session,  contained  the  following  remarks : — 

"  Many  Institutions  in  this  Commonwealth  which  have  promised 
great  benefit  to  the  public,  would  have  met  with  much  more  suc- 
cess, had  similar  Corporations  been  established.  When  only  one  of 
any  kind  is  permitted,  it  too  frequently  happens,  that  a  majority 
of  individuals  composing  it,  indulge  their  private  views  and  in- 
terests, to  the  exclusion  of  men,  of  the  most  enlarged,  liberal,  and 
informed  minds ;  and  thus  destroy  the  reputation  and  usefulness  of 
the  society  itself.  The  multiplication  of  such  institutions,  has  a 
tendency,  not  only  to  prevent  tliis  evil,  which  is  an  opiate  to 
genius,  but  to  produce  a  competition,  and  to  promote  in  the  high- 
est degree  the  utility  of  such  establishments."  —  ("  Columbian 
Centinel,"  January  15,  1812.) 

An  attempt  had  been  made,  before  the  Legisla- 
ture met,  to  mingle  politics  with  the  question  and 
render  it  a  party  one.  It  will  be  seen,  by  the  ex- 
tract given  above,  that  the  Governor  threw  his 
influence  on  the  side  of  the  petitioners. 

In  the  early  part  of  February,  1812,  the  com- 
mittee of  the  Legislature  gave  a  hearing  in  regard 
to  the  matter,  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  which  w^as 
filled  at  the  time  with  spectators.  Drs.  James 
Mann,  William  Ingalls,  Abij  ah  Draper  and  Joseph 
Lovell  appeared  in  order  to  support  the  petition; 
and  Drs.  David  Townsend,  John  Warren,  Thomas 
Welsh,   Aaron  Dexter,  Josiah  Bartlett,  William 


116  CEI^TEKN"IAL   ADDRESS. 

Spooner,  and  Benjamin  Shurtleff,  as  a  committee 
of  the  Medical  Society,  to  defend  the  remonstrance. 
The  petition  was  advocated  also  by  Dr.  Benjamin 
Waterhouse,  Professor  of  Theory  and  Practice  of 
Physic,  —  he  and  Drs.  Leonard  Jarvis,  Edward 
T^Hiitaker,  Daniel  Thurber,  and  Nathaniel  S. 
Prentiss,  having  added  their  names  to  the  docu- 
ment. This  brought  out  a  reply  from  Dr.  James 
Jackson,  who  was,  shortly  afterward,  Dr.  "Water- 
house's  successor,  in  behalf  of  the  medical  institu- 
tion at  Cambridge,  as  it  was  generally  understood 
that  a  new  school  would  be  connected  with  the 
proposed  establishment. 

On  the  next  day  the  committtee  reported,  by  a 
bare  majority,  so  far  in  favor  of  the  petitioners 
that  they  should  have  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill, 
which  report  was  accepted  by  the  Senate.  The 
jDroceedings  of  the  House  in  regard  to  it,  on  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1812,  are  found  in  the  "  Columbian 
Centinel,"  February  15,  and  are  as  follows: — 

"  The  report  of  a  joint  Committee  which  had  given  leave  for  the 
introduction  of  a  bill  to  incorporate  a  College  of  Physicians,  and 
which  rejDort  had  been  accepted  in  the  Senate,  was  taken  up'^in  the 
House  yesterday,  when  the  House  non  concurred  the  vote  of  the 
Senate ;  and  refused  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill. 

"  This  day,  Mr.  Canxon,  moved  to  reconsider  the  vote  of  yester- 
day. This  motion,  which  involved  all  the  merits  of  the  question, 
was  advocated  by  the  mover,  Messrs.  Martin  of  Marblehead, 
AusTix  of  Gharlestown,  Green  of  Berwick,  and  others;  and 
opposed  by  Messrs.  Childs,  of  Piltsfield,  Mr.  Kittridge,  Messrs. 
Foster,  Fat,  Russell,  Davis,  and  others,  and  was  negatived. 
For  it,  195.  Against,  211.  The  debate  on  this  subject  was  ani- 
mated and  interesting,  and  lasted  three  hours.  The  gentlemen  of 
the  Committee  which  reported  the  leave  stated,  that  in  the  exami- 
nations before  them,  they  found  nothing  to  support  nor  justify  the 
numerous  insinuations  and  reports  which  had  been  circulated  in 
print  and  in  out-door  conversation,  tending  to  implicate  and  injure 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  117 

the  existing  Medical  Society;  but  that  the  Society  has  stood,  and 
now  stands,  on  hi^h  jfrcMind  for  usefuhiess,  imjtartiulity  and  respect- 
ability. It  was  clearly  demonstrated — though  attempts  were 
made  out  doors  to  make  it  a  party  question — that  the  institu- 
tion asked  lor,  is  unnecessary,  and  that  if  granted  would  produce 
great  dissensions  among  the  faculty,  and  be  highly  injurious  to  the 
community." 

Thus  happily  ended  one  of  those  unpleasant 
controversies  Avhich  never  lead  to  good  results. 
The  petition  for  the  Massachusetts  College  of 
Physicians,  as  well  as  the  remonstrance  against  it, 
are  found  in  Dr.  Bartlett's  address  delivered  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  this  Society,  June  6,  1810, 
which  was  published  "  with  alterations  and  addi- 
tions to  January  1,  1813,"  in  the  first  volume, 
second  series,  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Collections.  This  edition"  of  the  address  contains 
ten  pages  of  matter  more  than  the  one  printed  in 
the  second  volume  of  the  Medical  Communications. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  Massa- 
chusetts had  no  hospital  for  the  treatment  of  general 
disease,  though  there  were  such  institutions  in  the 
States  of  ]^rew  York  and  Pennsylvania.  During 
many  years  before  this  time,  there  were  various 
indications  in  the  community  that  the  want  of 
such  an  establishment  was  beginning  to  be  felt; 
and  in  the  summer  of  1810,  strenuous  efforts  were 
made  to  supply  the  want,  which  proved  successful. 
The  prime  movers  of  the  undertaking  were  so 
closely  identified  with  this  Society  that,  in  any  nar- 
ration of  its  history,  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital  ought  to  be  mentioned.  A  circular  let- 
ter, dated  August  20,  1810,  was  prepared  by  Dr. 
James  Jackson  and  Dr.  John  Collins  AYarren,  and 
16 


118  CENTENIS-IAL   ADDRESS. 

addressed  to  some  of  the  most  influential  citizens 
of  Boston  and  its  neighborhood,  for  the  purpose 
of  awakening  in  their  minds  an  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject. It  was  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Bowditch,  as  re- 
corded in  his  "History  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital,"  that  this  circular-letter  might 
be  regarded  as  the  corner-stone  of  the  institution. 
The  two  writers  of  it  were  subsequently  presidents 
of  this  society. 

Dr.  James  Jackson,  the  first  signer,  is  perhaps 
the  most  conspicuous  character  in  the  medical  an- 
nals of  Massachusetts.  I  doubt  whether  any  phy- 
sician in  the  State  ever  exerted  so  large  and  lasting 
an  influence  over  his  professional  brethren  or  his 
patients.  Born  in  ISTewburyport,  October  3, 1777; 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  the  class  of  1796 ; 
he  studied  his  profession  under  the  venerable  Dr. 
Holyoke,  of  Salem.  In  the  year  1812  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Hersey  professorship  of  the  Theory 
and  Practice  of  Medicine,  which  he  continued  to 
hold  until  1836.  At  this  time  he  gave  up  the  ac- 
tive duties  of  the  ofiice,  and  was  chosen  Professor 
Emeritus.  His  writings  are  numerous,  and  all  his 
publications  show  great  wisdom  as  well  as  literary 
culture.  During  a  period  of  more  than  half  a 
century,  he  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  pages 
of  "  The  ]!^ew-England  Journal  of  Medicine  and 
Surgery,"  and  of  "  The  Boston  Medical  and  Sur- 
gical Journal."  His  death  took  place  on  August 
27,  1867. 

A  charter  for  a  hospital  was  granted  by  the 
Legislature,  Febi'uary  25,  1811,  containing  a  liber- 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  119 

al  gift  made  on  the  condition  that  f  100,000  more 
should  be  subscribed  by  individuals.  Besides 
giving  the  Province  House,  the  official  residence 
of  the  provincial  Governors,  for  this  oljject,  the 
State  helped  along  the  matter  in  varions  ways.  By 
a  special  Resolve  it  was  provided  that  the  stone 
for  the  bnilding  should  be  hammered  by  the  con- 
victs in  the  State  Prison  at  Charlestown.  The 
work  thus  done  is  estimated  at  more  than  $30,000. 
The  institution  was  opened  in  the  autumn  of  1821 ; 
though  the  McLean  Asylum  for  the  treatment  of 
the  Insane,  under  the  same  board  of  managers, 
was  in  operation  several  years  before  this  time. 

The  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  is  the 
oldest  institution  of  its  kind  in  'New  England,  and 
for  the  high  professional  character  of  its  officers, 
and  for  its  efficient  management  is  second  to  none 
in  the  country.  The  community  owes  a  deep  debt 
of  gratitude  not  only  to  the  whole-souled  men  who 
endowed  the  hospital  with  their  means,  but  also  to 
the  accomplished  physicians  and  surgeons  who  de- 
voted their  time  and  thought  to  the  common  object. 
From  the  outset  its  growth  has  been  steady  and 
sure;  and  it  stands  to-day  an  abiding  monument 
to  the  noble  purposes  of  the  men  of  science,  as 
well  as  the  men  of  wealth,  who  established  it. 

Two  of  the  Governors  of  Massachusetts,  John 
Brooks  and  William  Eustis,  were  physicians,  and 
both  early  fellows  of  this  Society.  They  each  had 
served  throughout  the  Kevolution,  and  rendered 
important  services  to  their  country,  the  one  as  a 
field  officer  and  the  other  as  a  surgeon.     In  after- 


120  CENTENNIAL   ADDEESS. 

life  both  of  them  occupying  pohtical  positions  of 
usefulness  and  importance,  they  enjoyed  at  the 
same  time  a  wide  professional  influence.  I  do  not 
forget  that  the  second  office  in  the  gift  of  the  peo- 
ple of  this  Commonwealth  has  been  filled  by  three 
members  of  this  learned  association.  David  Cobb, 
an  officer  of  the  Kevolution,  and  subsequently  a 
judge,  who  told  the  mob  at  Taunton,  during  the 
Shays  rebellion,  that  he  would  sit  as  a  judge  or  die 
as  a  general;  Henry  Halsey  Childs,  and  Elisha 
Huntington, —  all  these  have  been  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernors of  the  State. 

The  first  American  seaman  treated  by  the  United 
States  Government  was  cared  for  in  Boston  Har- 
bor by  Dr.  Thomas  Welsh,  a  charter  member  of 
this  Society.  The  first  United  States  Marine  Hos- 
pital was  built  at  Charlestown  in  the  year  1803, 
and  its  first  physician  was  Dr.  Charles  Jarvis, 
another  charter  member.  The  first  enactment  in 
this  country  legalizing  the  study  of  practical 
anatomy  was  passed  February  28,  1831,  by  the 
General  Court  of  this  Commonwealth.  For  a 
long  time  Massachusetts  was  the  only  State  in  the 
Union,  where  a  liberal  law  threw  its  protection  over 
this  important  branch  of  study;  and  it  was  brought 
about  entirely  by  fellows  of  the  Medical  Society. 

The  greatest  boon  to  the  human  race,  since  the 
invention  of  printing,  has  been,  unquestionably, 
the  discovery  of  the  anaesthetic  properties  of  sul- 
phuric ether:  all  Christendom  owes  a  debt  of 
lasting  gratitude  for  the  knowledge  of  this  incal- 
culable blessing.    Scarcely  a  generation  has  passed 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  121 

since  the  great  Ihet  was  demonstrated  at  the  Mas- 
saehusetts  General  Hospital  in  Boston,  that  the 
acutest  sensations  of  physical  sntfering  under  the 
surgeon's  kniie,  by  this  discovery  may  be  changed 
into  the  innocent  dreams  of  the  weary  sleeper.  By 
means  of  it  the  young  wife  awakens  from  her 
slumbers,  and  finds  that  unconsciously  she  is  a 
mother.  Through  its  power,  hfe  has  been  saved 
and  pain  prevented;  and  it  is  due  to  the  memory 
of  the  discoverer  that  on  this  occasion  we  should 
recognize  his  claims  as  a  public  benefactor.  The 
surgeons  of  the  Hospital,  all  members  of  this 
Society,  stood  sponsors  to  the  great  discovery ;  and 
by  their  prudent  and  judicious  action  hastened  the 
day  when  the  use  of  ether,  as  an  anesthetic  agent, 
has  become  well-nigh  universal.  Mr.  Bowditch, 
in  his  History  of  the  institution,  gives  a  full  account 
of  the  introduction  of  its  use,  together  with  a 
detailed  statement  of  the  controversy  connected 
with  it. 

There  have  been  so  many  distinguished  fellows 
of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  worthy  to 
be  mentioned  on  this  occasion,  that  I  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  discriminate;  and  I  pass  them  over  in 
silence.  Their  names  are  so  conspicuous  that  they 
will  readily  suggest  themselves;  but  I  should  be 
doing  an  injustice  to  my  own  feelings,  if  I  did  not 
publicly  recognize  the  labors  which  the  late  Dr. 
George  Derby  rendered  to  the  militar}"  service  of 
his  country,  as  well  as  to  the  cause  of  sanitary 
science  in  his  native  State.  As  his  army  comrade 
through  several  campaigns,  I  have  a  right  to  speak 


122  CENTEXK^IAL   ADDRESS. 

of  him  as  a  man  and  a  sm-geon,  in  the  warmest 
terms  Avhich  friendship  can  prompt.  And  for  the 
same  reasons  I  cannot  withhold  a  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  the  late  Dr.  George  Alexander  Otis,  of 
Springfield,  who  left  the  State  as  Surgeon  of  the 
27th  Massachusetts  Yolunteers;  though  he  after- 
ward received  a  commission  as  surgeon  in  the 
regular  army,  where  he  remained  until  his  death, 
February  23,  1881.  His  contributions  to  "The 
Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion  "  have  placed  him  among  the  prominent 
writers  of  the  profession. 

In  the  late  War  for  the  Union,  the  members  of 
the  medical  profession  not  alone  of  Massachusetts, 
but  of  the  whole  country,  !N"orth  and  South,  Fed- 
eral and  Confederate,  Blue  and  Grey,  performed 
such  noble  services  in  the  cause  of  humanity  that 
I  am  constrained  to  refer  to  them  in  this  address. 
During  a  long  service  I  am  proud  to  say  that  I 
have  never  known  an  instance  where  a  sick  or 
wounded  soldier,  friend  or  foe,  did  not  receive  from 
the  surgeon  the  best  professional  skill  available 
at  the  time,  whether  on  the  one  side  or  the  other 
of  the  contending  armies.  In  the  presence  of  pain 
and  suffering  all  hostility  was  buried.  Only  those 
suro-eons  Avho  have  served  in  the  field  are  aware 
of  the  hardships  in  the  treatment  of  medical  and 
surgical  cases  during  a  campaign.  I  do  not  al- 
lude now  to  personal  privations  or  inconveniences 
which  are  shared  nearl}^  alike  by  all,  but  I  refer  to 
the  want  of  many  things  considered  necessary  in 
civil  life  for  the  care  of  the  sick,  and  always  es- 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  123 

sential  to  their  comloi't.  There  are  phy.sieiaiis  in 
this  aiulieiiee  who  have  been  called  upon  to  treat, 
during  the  bad  weather  of  an  inclement  season, 
miles  away  I'rom  any  hospital,  soldiers  lying  on 
the  ground  and  sultering  with  all  the  symptoms  of 
acute  disease.  There  are  those  here  present  who 
have  been  obliged  to  perform  severe  operations 
of  surgery,  in  the  dark  hours  of  the  night,  under 
the  broad  canopy  of  the  open  heavens,  by  the  faint 
glimmer  of  smoky  candles  and  dingy  lanterns,  on  an 
extemporized  table,  or  perhaps  with  no  table  at  aU. 

The  names  cut  on  the  marble  tablets  in  the  ad- 
joining hall  bear  witness  to  the  patriotism  of  many 
a  member  of  this  Society,  wdio  sealed  by  death  his 
devotion  to  the  country.  In  common  with  all 
classes  and  callings  the  physicians  of  the  loyal 
States  hastened  to  the  rescue  when  the  ^N^ational 
Government  was  threatened,  and  proffered  their 
professional  services.  The  value  of  the  medical 
literature,  growing  out  of  these  services,  is  acknow- 
ledged throughout  the  civilized  world. 

The  following  medical  oflScers  from  this  State 
were  slain  in  action,  while  in  the  line  of  their  duty: 
— Samuel  Foster  Haven,  Jr.,  Surgeon  15th  ^Nlassa- 
chusetts  Volunteers,  was  killed  at  Fredericksburg, 
Virginia,  December  13,  1862;  Albert  Asaph  Ken- 
dall, Assistant-surgeon  12th  Massachusetts  Volun- 
teers, and  Edward  Hutchinson  Kobbins  Revere, 
Assistant-surgeon  20th  Massachusetts  Volunteers, 
both  were  killed  at  the  battle  of  Antietam,  Mary- 
land, September  17, 1862;  Franklin  Lambert  Hunt, 
Assistant-surgeon  27th  Massachusetts  Volunteers, 


124  CENTENIN^IAL   ADDRESS. 

shot  clown  by  guerrillas  in  ambush,  near  Washmg- 
ton,  ]S'orth  Carohna,  ]N^ovember  18, 1862;  and  John 
Edward  Hill,  Assistant-surgeon  19th  Massachu- 
setts Yolunteers,  died  in  the  hospital  at  George- 
town, D.  C,  September  11,  1862,  of  wounds  re- 
ceived a  short  time  previously. 

The  following  medical  officers  in  Massachusetts 
regiments  died,  during  their  term  of  service,  from 
disease  contracted  while  in  the  army: — I^qW  K 
Gunn,  Assistant-surgeon  1st  Massachusetts  Yol- 
unteers, June  2,  1863,  at  Falmouth,  Yirginia; 
William  Henry  Heath,  Surgeon,  July  24,  1862,  at 
Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  and  James  Wightman, 
Assistant-surgeon,  June  15, 1863,  at  Acquia  Land- 
ing, Yirginia,  both  of  the  2d  Massachusetts  Yolun- 
teers ',  William  Webster  Claflin,  Assistant-surgeon 
13th  Massachusetts  Yolunteers,  July  25,  1864,  at 
Hudson,  in  this  State;  Eben  Kimball  Sanborn, 
Surgeon  31st  Massachusetts  Yolunteers,  April  23, 
1862,  at  Ship  Island,  Mississippi;  Ariel  Ivers 
Cummings,  Surgeon  42d  Massachusetts  Yolunteer 
Militia,  September  9,  1863,  at  Hempstead,  Texas; 
Kobert  Ware,  Surgeon  44th  Massachusetts  Yol- 
unteer Militia,  April  10,  1863,  at  ^ewbern,  ]!!^orth 
Carolina;  ]^athaniel  Wells  French,  Assistant-sur- 
geon 50th  Massachusetts  Yolunteer  Militia,  April 
21,  1863,  at  Baton  Rouge,  Louisiana;  and  Dixi 
Crosby  Hoyt,  Assistant-surgeon  2d  Regiment 
Heavy  Artillery,  November  1,  1864,  at  Newbern, 
JS^orth  Carolina. 

Dr.  Luther  Y  Bell,  a  distinguished  fellow  of 
this  Society,  died  February  11,  1862,  in  his  tent  at 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  125 

Camp  Baker,  two  miles  from  Budd's  Ferry,  Maiy- 
laiul,  while  holding  a  medieal  commission  from  the 
United  States.  Dr.  Lucius  Manlius  Sargent,  Jr., 
who  entered  the  military  service  of  his  country  as 
Surgeon  of  the  2d  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  was 
killed  in  the  Yii-ginia  campaign,  December  9, 1864, 
while  leading  a  charge  of  the  1st  Massachusetts 
Cavahy,  of  which  regiment  he  was  the  Lieutenant- 
colonel.  He  was  a  skilful  surgeon  as  well  as  an 
intrepid  officer  ;  in  his  death  the  Society  lost  a 
valuable  member,  and  the  State  a  gallant  soldier. 

I  might  mention  other  physicians,  fellows  of  this 
Society,  who  since  the  war  have  died  from  disease 
contracted  while  in  the  army.  They  are  as  much 
the  victims  of  their  patriotic  service,  as  if  they  had 
been  killed  in  the  heat  of  battle.  My  friend  and 
classmate.  Dr.  Anson  Parker  Hooker,  Surgeon  of 
the  26th  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  and  subse- 
quently the  Assistant  Surgeon-general  of  the 
Commonwealth,  died,  December  31,  1873,  from 
the  eflects  of  malaria  received  while  with  his 
regiment.  Dr.  Jonah  Franklin  Dyer,  Surgeon  of 
the  19th  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  died  at  Glou- 
cester, February  9,  1879;  and  he  is  another  fellow 
of  this  Society  who,  from  disease  contracted  in 
the  service,  laid  down  his  life  for  his  countiy, 
years  after  the  war  was  over,  as  truly  as  if  he  had 
died  in  camp. 

The  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  is  now  the 
oldest  state    organization   in   the    country,    of  a 
similar  character,  that  has  held  its  meetings  con- 
tinuously and  regularly  from  the  date  of  its  incor- 
17 


126  CENTEN1S^AL   ADDEESS. 

poration.  Since  its  foundation  it  has  borne  on  its 
rolls  the  names  of  3,700  persons;  and  to-day  its 
membership  includes  1,350  physicians  coming  from 
all  parts  of  the  Commonwealth.  These  members 
represent  every  section  of  the  State,  and  their  in- 
fluence on  one  another  is  as  immense  as  it  is  incal- 
culable. The  average  attendance  at  the  annual 
meetings  of  late  years  is  not  far  from  750  members ; 
these  meetings  last  through  two  days,  and  with 
few  exceptions  have  been  held  in  Boston. 

The  charter  of  the  l!^ew  Jersey  Medical  Society 
antedates  that  of  this  Society  by  some  years,  but 
there  have  been  breaks  in  its  regular  line  of  descent. 
During  the  Kevolution  there  was  a  suspension  of 
its  meetings  from  the  year  1775  to  1781,  which 
was  due  to  the  interruption  of  the  war;  and  then 
again  from  the  year  1795  to  1807,  this  time  owing 
to  a  general  anaemic  condition  of  interest,  on  the 
part  of  its  members. 

We  now  stand  on  the  dividing  line  between  two 
centuries, — the  one  that  is  passed,  and  the  other 
just  beginning, — and  we  can  look  forward  only  so 
far  as  the  light  of  the  past  illumines  the  vision. 
"We  see  enough,  however,  to  knoAV  that  new  ideas 
in  the  profession  will  be  established,  and  new 
methods  adopted.  The  physician  of  the  coming 
period  will  have  a  broader  knowledge  of  prevent- 
ive medicine.  The  laws  of  infection  and  contagion 
will  be  better  known,  and  the  daily  conditions  of 
health  and  disease  more  thoroughly  understood. 
The  subtle  connection  between  cause  and  efiect 
will  be  more  accurately  defined;  and  what  is  now 


CENTENNIAL   ADDRESS.  127 

obscure  Avill  be  mucle  cleur.  The  ;^reiit  lact  is  to 
be  emphasized  that  everything  in  this  life  is  related 
to  what  has  gone  before,  and  that  we  are  what  we 
are  in  consequence  of  antecedent  circumstances. 
We  may  approach  even  to  the  curtain  which  nature 
drops  over  all  vital  action,  but  there  avc  must  stop; 
though  in  other  directions  the  finger  of  Discovery 
points  down  endless  paths  for  investigation.  Yet 
with  all  the  knowledge  that  the  human  intellect 
can  master,  the  great  problem  of  living  organism 
will  be  as  far  from  solution  as  it  is  to-day.  Grop- 
ing in  the  dark  in  respect  to  first  causes,  we  must 
confess  that  life  is  an  impenetrable  mystery, — that 
it  is  something  more  than  chemical  action,  and 
something  beyond  protoplastic  development.  For 
our  purpose  it  is  enough  to  know  that  the  science 
of  medicine  will  continue  to  the  last  point  of 
measured  duration;  and,  like  a  planet  p>i^^iig"^o 
on  through  the  immensity  of  space,  in  its  untiring 
and  unending  course,  it  will  shed  its  rays  of  light 
and  consolation  wherever  atoms  of  humanity  are 
found. 


Correction, — page  33,  line  6. 

For  the  last  sentence  of  the  first  paragraph,  read :  "  Hoar  was 
the  first  president  who  was  a  graduate  of  the  institution,  but 
Eogers  was  an  earlier  graduate  who  became  president  afterward." 


APPENDIX 


The  following  letter, — written  by  a  distinguished  scholar, 
whose  knowledge  of  the  native  dialects  of  the  country  is  un- 
surpassed,— has  an  important  bearing  on  the  diagnosis  of  the 
disease,  mentioned  in  page  12  of  the  preceding  Address. 
It  furnishes,  from  a  philological  stand-point,  an  interesting 
contribution  to  the  discussion  of  the  subject. 

Hartford,  June  25,  1881. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Green  : 

Thanks  for  a  copy  of  your  capital  Centennial  Address, — which 
I  have  just  now  finished  reading,  with  much  interest. 

I  see  that  you  incline  to  the  belief  that  the  "  prodigious  pesti- 
lence "  which  made  room  for  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth,  was  the 
small-pox,  and  not  the  yellow-fever.  I  have  not  a  copy  of 
Winslow's  "  Good  Newes  "  within  reach  this  evening,  and  I  do 
not  recollect  his  statement  that  you  cite,  that  the  same  disease  pre- 
vailed as  late  as  November,  1622.  This  statement  may  be  con- 
clusive against  yellow-fever.  Roger  WilHams,  in  "  Key,"  ch.  xxxi. 
shows,  however,  that  the  Indians  had  distinct  names  for  the  "great 
plague"  and  "the  [small]  pox."  I  have  indicated,  in  my  edition 
of  the  Key,  p.  211,  the  composition  of  the  name  for  the  "  plague," 
which  agrees  exactly  with  the  description  of  it  that  the  Indians  gave 
to  Gookin.  "  WeHaiLashaui,''  which  Williams  translates,  "He 
hath  the  plague,"  literally  signifies  "  he  is  badly  yellow,"  and  the 
name  for  the  disease  itself,  wesauashauonck,  is  "a  bad  yellowing" 
or  "  being  badly  yellow."  I  am  not  quite  certain  of  the  signifi- 
cation of  the  Indian  name  for  the  small-pox,  Mamaskisliaiionck,  but 
this  name  is  still  in  use — under  various  dialectic  variations — by 
several,  perhaps  by  all  Algonkin  tribes.  For  the  Narraganset 
mamas kishaui  "he  has  the  small-pox,"  the    Chippeways  have 


130  APPENDIX. 

omamakisi,  and  for  the  name  of  the  disease,  mamakisi-win. 
(The  toad,  by  the  way,  is  named  by  the  Chippeways,  omakiki, 
probably  from  his  warty  skin.)  In  the  western  Cree,  the  verb 
becomes  omiki-u,  and  the  noun,  omikiwin, — which  is  used  as 
a  name  for  Psora,  as  well  as  for  the  small-pox,  and  also  enters 
into  the  composition  of  the  name  of  leprosy,  and  is  nearly  related 
to  the  names  for  measles  and  scarlatina.  In  the  western  dialects, 
the  derivation  of  these  names  seems  plainly  enough  to  be  from  a 
root  denoting  redness;  and  if  so,  the  Narraganset  (and  Massa- 
chusetts) name  for  the  small-pox  must  have  been  derived  from 
that  of  some  earlier-known  disease,  which  signified  "  redness  of 
skin"  or  "eruption"  (Psora?) ,  by  intensive  reduplication  and  the 
suffix  denoting  badness, — so  as  to  give  the  meaning  of  a  "  very 
great  bad  redness  "  or  cutaneous  eruption. 

As  I  have  said,  Roger  Williams  shows  that  the  small-pox  and 
"  the  great  plague,"  were  distinguished  by  the  Indians  of  New 
England  by  different  names.  They  told  him,  1  637-43,  of  "  the 
last  pox  "  and  "  the  great  [literally,  the  last']  plague," — and  diag- 
nosed the  two  as  well  as  they  could  do  by  single  words:  "  the  late 
great  eruption "  and  "the  late  great  yellowing,  or  yellowness." 
Eliot  evidently  identified  the  "yellowing"  with  a  "fever," — for 
while  he  uses  ivesau.-ihdunk  for  "pestilence,"  in  Psalm  xci.  3.  6, 
and  Luke  xxi.  11,  and  for  "plague"  (rarely)  as  in  Luke  vii.  21, 
h€  also  uses  the  verb  ivesoshau,  for  "  she  was  sick  of  a  fever,"  in 
Matt.  viii.  14,  Mark  i.  30. 

One  word  more :  we  had  in  Connecticut,  I  think,  an  earlier 
autopsy  than  yours  of  1674.  In  March,  166f,  the  Gen.  Court 
allowed  Mr.  Bryan  Rossetter — at  that  date  the  only  regularly 
educated  phj^sician  and  surgeon  within  many  miles  of  Haitford — 
payment  "in  reference  to  opening  Kellie's  child,"  and  for  other 
professional  services.  See  Conn.  Col.  Records,  i.  396.  It  is  not, 
I  admit,  absolutely  certain,  that  Kelley's  child  died  be/o7'e  the 
opening.  Very  truly  yours, 

J.  H.  TRUMBULL. 

P.  S.  June  27th.  Looking  at  Bradford's  History,  this  morn- 
ing, I  see  that  he  observes  (p.  326)  that  the  Indians  were  more 
afraid  of  the  small-pox  than  of  the  plague.  Winslow  does  not 
identify  the  disease  prevalent  in  Massachusetts  in  1622,  with  the 
plague  of  1617-18, — though  he  says  (on  hearsay,  of  course) 
that  it  was  verv  like  it,  if  not  the  same. 


APPENDIX.  131 


Janf-  Hawkins,  wlio  actrd  as  midwife  at  the  delivery  of 
Mary  Dyer't*  monstrosity,  mentioned  in  pa^^^c  27,  was  lier- 
eelf'a  pliysieian  of  some  notoriety.  Aceording  to  Governor 
Wintlu-op, — 

"  she  used  to  give  young  women  oil  of  mandrakes  and  other 
stuff  to  cause  conception ;  and  she  grew  into  great  suspicion  to  he 
a  witch,  for  it  was  credihiy  reported,  that,  when  she  gave  any 
medicines  (for  she  practised  piiysic.)  she  woidd  ask  the  party,  if 
she  did  helieve,  she  could  help  her." — (••  The  History  of  New 
England,"  i.  31G.) 

Thomas  Welde,  in  "A  Short  Story,"  etc.  (London, 
1G44),  says  that  she  was  "notorious  for  familiarity  with  the 
devill." — (Page  44.)  Her  reputation  in  the  community 
was  anything  but  good.  She  was  looked  uj)on  as  a  witch, 
and  for  that  reason  greatly  feared  by  her  neighl^ors.  Her 
case  was  considered  at  the  session  of  the  General  Court, 
beginning  March  12,  1G37-8,  when  it  is  recorded  that — 

"  Jane  Hawkins  the  wife  of  Richr^  Hawkins  had  liberty  till 
the  beginning  of  the  third  m°  called  May,  &  the  magistrates  (if 
shee  did  not  depart  before)  to  dispose  of  her,  &  in  the  meane 
time  shee  is  not  to  meddle  in  surgery,  or  physick,  drinks,  or  oyles, 
nor  to  question  matters  of  religion  except  w"^  the  elders  for  satis- 
faction."— (General  Court  Records,  i.  219.) 

The  effect  of  this  order  is  not  known  ;  but  some  years 
later  summary  steps  were  taken  to  get  rid  of  her  without 
much  previous  notice.  At  the  session  of  the  General  Court, 
beginning  June  2,  1G41,  it  was  voted  that — 

"  Jane  Hawkins  is  enioyned  to  depart  away  tomorrow  morning, 
&  not  to  returne  againe  hither  upon  paine  of  severe  whipping,  & 
such  other  punishment,  as  the  Court  shall  thinke  meete.  &  her 
seniles  stand  bound  in  20.'.  to  carry  her  away  according  to  order." 
— (General  Court  Records,  i.  309.) 


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